After looking at my stack of unbuilt armor kits, I decided it was time to tackle one. I've always liked the look of the Panther, and I had three Tamiyas (early, late, steel wheel) in the stash, as well as a few others, so I chose this one.

The wheels were first, and were rather laborious. I primed, then painted the yellow base, using Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow. I tried airbrushing AMMO 0002 RAL6003 Olivgrun 2 and AMMO 0015 RAL8017 Schokobraun, but it did not turn out that well, so I went over it with a microbrush. I then painted the tires by hand, using a fine black marker to "paint" the area next to the wheel.

As is typical of Tamiya, the kit went together very well. I painted the tools before attaching them to the hull, but after attaching them, I realized it would have been easier to paint them after attaching them. I used AMMO 0191 Steel for the tools, but it was much brighter than I expected - almost silver. It did brush well though.

As with the wheels, I used a microbrush to apply the green and brown over the base yellow. My patterns aren't quite realistic, as they are splotchy rather than the streaks (for want of a better term) on the real thing.

I used Future both before and after decals, and a mix of Future with Tamiya Flat Base for the final flat coat. I tried applying an acrylic wash, which didn't really seem to have any effect.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.