Italeri 1/35th Sd.Kfz. 173 JagdpantherBy Vic Mattes |
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Background
The
Jagdpanther combines lethal firepower, excellent well-sloped protection
and good mobility to create one of the most effective armored fighting
vehicles used in World War II. The well-sloped shape and low profile not
only provided the Jagdpanther with excellent protection on the battlefield,
it also made it one of the most visually attractive vehicles of the war.
Three remain in running condition today.
The Build
The Jagdpanther is a rather straight forward model to build assuming you are not doing anything with the interior. Having no turret, the build is essentially one of assembling the running gear and hanging pieces on the body. While the build is rather easy, it is in the painting and weathering that the modeler can be challenged or display their originality and creativity.
As
with about any tank model, the instructions begin with the lower hull
and the running gear. Nothing complex here. The lower hull elements go
together well and fit nicely. The modeler does need to consider his paint
and camo scheme during this portion as the Jagdpanther does have the overlapping
road wheels. I have not figured out yet how to satisfactorily paint the
overlapping road wheels once they are attached to the lower hull. On top
of painting the sides of the wheels, there is the rubber portion of the
wheels to consider. Something to think of when planning your build. Fortunately,
the Italeri model does allow sufficient room between the road wheels and
the upper hull that the tracks can be installed last.
With
the lower hull complete with the road wheel arms attached, I picked up
the build at step 8 and the joining of the upper to lower hull. No issues
and the fit is clean. Steps 9 through 13 involve hanging the various bits
and bobs on the upper hull. It really isn’t complicated and well
laid out in the instructions. The only change I made is one I do with
all tanks in that I don’t attach tools, extra gear and such until
I have finished or almost finished the painting. The build was completed
with the assembly and installation of the gun and gun mantlet.
With
the assembly complete, I moved on to painting the tank. I did start out
with a particular camo scheme in mind but had to change it when I couldn’t
get elements of it to work satisfactorily. Unfortunately, this meant going
all the way back to the beginning as the base color I started with was
a green and, as you can see, I ended up with a Sandgelb base.
As I had already installed the road wheels, this did force me to deal
with how do you paint them once installed. With a significant amount of
positions and contortions, I did get them adequately painted and convinced
myself that it is best to paint the road wheels before installing them.
The
camo is a version I saw on a webpage but cannot find again. It involved
stripes made up of green and red-brown ‘dots’. I used a pencil
eraser to apply the red-brown and a smaller diameter styrene tube with
cotton stuck in the end to apply the green. Were I to do it again, I would
use the styrene for both as it allowed a smaller diameter ‘dot’
of color. Unfortunately the ‘dots’ did not go on as smoothly
as the base coat which was air-brushed. Ideally, one would air brush the
‘dots’ to give the proper appearance.
With
the paints on, I applied a coat of Future before putting the decals on.
The decals lifted nicely and attached themselves smoothly. One might want
to consider replacing the German crosses as I feel the white is a bit
too white (lots of weathering needed to tone them down).
Once the decals were on, I applied two coats of flat lacquer to ensure the paint was set (I have had problems with my washes literally washing the paint away). This seemed to work as my wash went on with no issue. I followed up the general wash with more pointed washes in the seams and welds and such.
The
tracks were given a flat lacquer base coat. This was followed up with
an air-brushing of red-brown and a dark wash. I highlighted the track
edges and bottoms with a metallic-color pencil before attaching them to
the road wheels. The tracks are rather larger and seem almost too big
for the tank. I did end up gluing the upper tracks to the center road
wheels to get the proper droop for a Jagdpanther.
The build was completed with a light application of Mig pigments. I used smoke black to highlight the exhausts. European dust was lightly used all over the hull as it would appear trundling up and down the European dirt roads.
