Thursday, June 30, 2016

Warlord 1/56 Panther with AA Armor

This model has been on my workbench for about 6 months or so. I kept picking it up, doing a little bit, and then putting it back for weeks at a time. This was an experiment in doing winter whitewash with oil paints, rather than my usual oil pastels and I can't say I really like the end effect much. Next time I'm going to use the airbrush and try that method.

This model started as a stock plastic Warlord Games Panther Ausf. D. I first removed the side skirts and filed down the oddly-molded square mounting holes, replaced the hull MG (which was too thin and flimsy) with plasticard rod, added a anorak-clad commander from JTFM, & added a pintle-mounted MG34 from the Warlord German Grenadiers sprue. 

The armor plate is plasticard sheeting laid on top of plasticard angle stock. It's a very simple conversion really, the hardest part is getting the correct circular diameter for the turret hatch. I had done this conversion previously in 15mm for my FOW Panthers and I really like this upgrade. In real life, these were field conversions made out of thin, unprimered mild steel plating (hence the rust) welded atop the engine vents and turret top. The rationale appears to be similar to that of schurzen - spaced armor meant to protect against the AP shells used by Allied attack aircraft.

Vehicle was then primed in Krylon rust red primer, and then basecoated in VMC Middlestone, with soft-edge camo in Testors Acryl Rotbraun. Decals are Rubicon. 







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