Building the Tamiya 1/35 Jagdpanther (Late Version)

By  Jack Bruno, IPMS# 25313

Kit# 35203, MSRP: $44.00 Web Site: www.tamiya.com For a vehicle that only saw 392 units produced in 1944 and 1945, the Jagdpanther has been called the best tank destroyer to come out of World War Two. After reading up on the history I tend to agree except that the low production numbers would hurt this evaluation considerably. This outstanding tank was based on the already dreaded Panther chassis and mounted the outstanding 88 gun. It fought mostly on the Western Front in Normandy and in larger numbers during the December Ardennes Offensive. Having one of these hiding in the brush waiting for Sherman's is something I'm glad I was too young to have to consider. The Jagdpanther came in just about 45 tons and had under a 100-mile range. It also had the Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 and topped out at around 29 MPH. Earlier Production versions included Zimmerit and different gun collar. Later versions did away with the paste and featured bolted collars for easy access. From a history and modeler view, it was a beautiful machine. The Kit On a lark I wanted to do a quick build of something new for a change. My oldest son had bought me The Band Of Brothers DVD set and after seeing this come through the woods in an episode my mind was already made up. I grabbed it off the shelf and was in awe of the great engineering of the kit because of the simplistic approach in assembly. Being that this Monster did not have a turret the build went together very fast. Mike sanded all the road wheels while I put together the lower chassis and knocked out the upper hull and the few parts to the 88mm gun. I had absolutely no trouble in assembly and even took flex file to the 88 instead of going out and getting a metal gun for it. And a note to you guys that think you need to spend extra for a metal barrel..........don't. Take your time and even chuck it in a Dremel to remove the seams. After the upper and lower hulls were finished the fun started. I used the Tamiya engine deck screens, but before I mounted them, I took the knife to them to show a little wear and tear. Next was the addition of the conduit for the Headlight...which is starting to be a lost art. I see many vehicles out on the tables that tend to pass over this much needed addition. After all, this is 1944. A small piece of solder wire was used for this and used some pictures for proper mounting. I cleaned up all the tools but left them off until the paint job was over, but mounted them prior to the Future clear coat so they can be oil washed along with the Tank. This did include leaving the hull machine gun off too, but I did drill it out because the mood struck me. The Tracks When I can, FRIUL Tracks are used to really give a tank the justice it deserves. If there were any problem about Tamiya it would be the tracks. I just don't like them for the German/Soviet kits. I assembled the metal tracks using the drill it out, clean it up, replace wire with brass rod system. In no time I had both runs built and test fitted them on both sides allowing for the proper Panther look. After this was done over a few nights I soaked both runs in BLACKEN-IT!!! --about an hour for each run on two separate days. They really looked cool and I gave them a dirty brown oil wash to really get that look that I wanted. After all was dry I took the silver pencil to it and gave the track teeth and high spots the worn metal look. The mounted spare track was also done in this manner. Now, to paint the little kitty. Painting Before painting old girl I gave it the once over by taking a hot knife and going over some of the weld beads and adding some nicks and dents. I followed this by spraying the entire kit Flat Black. About an hour later I gave it a base coat of Dark Yellow followed by a little lighter yellow to give some depth. Then I air brushed the Green pattern by freehand and added a lighter green in the center of each green cluster. This was also followed by the Brown and a lighter Brown. When I was satisfied with the look, I mounted the tools which I pre-painted and gave it a FUTURE clear coat to act as a barrier for the Turpentine/oil wash. I also painted the exhaust system a red brown. I exclusively use Windsor-Newton Van Dyke Brown. This was applied in heavy doses and again my weapon of choice being cotton underwear as a remover the excess film.I used Q-Tips in hard to reach area's. After this was dry I gave it a Flat Coat and added some pastel to the muffler and around areas that dirt/grim would gather. The Base My local Goodwill Gal's came up big for me this time and saved me a box of bases. I picked out a round base with some little pegs on the bottom (Plant Stand??) and applied some Celluclay with white glue. I used a little less water because I wanted to hasten the drying time because the Region 5 Convention was coming up. I added Kitty Litter for some groundwork and pressed it in to get a good grip. After it was still lucid I pressed the tracks into it in order to give the illusion of weight. Things came out great and I painted and weathered the groundwork in the same manner as the Tank. Some careful dry brushing followed and then I added some static grass to give some color to the scene. I have in my stash what seems to be an endless supply of Verlinden stuff like crates/boxes/logs not to mention those gun/equipment sets from Tamiya/Dragon that I always see going for next to nothing at swaps. These items were white glued in and I added an MG42 just for good measure because I could. Getting back to the gun barrel........I decided to break up the visual by adding a Verlinden camouflage net, soaked in white glue and water. This was done in the field to lessen the chance of first sight and breaking up the shape from the air. Not to mention, in 1944 it was a common practice in German armor Units.....this and staying off the roads in daylight. Since I was doing a pre-Ardennes unit, I also added some HUDSON-ALLEN pine boughs to hide the shape. The End I white glued old girl to the base using the sunken track imprint and she looks really good sitting there. I also decided to offset the 88 just to be a little different. It really paid off too. I got some nice compliments because you hardly ever see a Jagdpanther's 88 turned slightly. I've always gone against the grain by having my models mounted on a nice base that featured the kits moving into or out of the scene. Lately I've been seeing a lot of this at Shows and really encourage modelers to break the rules and create YOUR vision, not what some else thinks it should be. My Jagdpanther was done in time for the Region 5 Convention and happily I took a First in it's category. This was one very easy model to do and I really had a lot of fun doing it. I really suggest to anyone building this or the other Panthers in the series to replace the tracks. There's more that I could have done, like relocating the tools and cleaning rods in addition to a different exhaust, but I'll save that for a another kit so I can use my white wash on it and do a proper winter cat.......maybe with IR???? I can't recommend this model enough.