So here is the next Panther I am working on … one of Steel Wheel variants issued to the 1.Abt. SS Pz.Reg.1 around early Oct. 1944. This is one of the best documented Panther Gs with the experimental Steel Wheel suspension.
Here is a historical overview borrowed from FBs "The King of La Gleize:
This time I used the DRAGON Kit 6267 to start out with.
The Steel Wheels are a mix of DRAGONs own leftovers (Outer) supplemented by RFM (inner) ones.
Starting with the hull and turret:
I always use TAMIYA Grey Putty to created a rolled steel surface with the usual “imperfections”
Important to know is that this Panther had the raised heater fan, also the Chemical Agent warning plates … but NO “Pilzen” yet.
Giving the model a coat of TAMIYA Grey Primer it was then sprayed in a Red-Oxide coat I mixed together from TAMIYA acrylics.
Then the base coat of light Sand also mixed from TAMIYA acrylics was applied … weathering the lower hull before attaching the running gear. I didn’t put that much effort in to these areas since they will be mostly hidden by the Side-Skirts later.
Since I was very eager to do the turret camo, I tackled this first. I mix all my colors for a project new, sometimes I alter leftovers like Brown and Green in this case. Compared to my other Panthers the color applied look quite a like but in reality one does notice a slight difference in their overall appearance.
Most of the turret came will be hidden under the turret numbers an spare tracks which where obviously used as the original foto indicates.
The two sides and the front should come quite close to the original … the rear and the turret roof are mostly “functional”.
Since I use very small amounts of paint, the rest is then used on the hull.
I purchased the same 3D printed tracks I used for Panther #114.
Ready for weathering …
These plates “LOST-Tafeln” were introduces around Sept. 1944 as sort of a clipboard to attach paper/cardboard indicator (change of colour) if chemicals like gas was detected.
Arranged so the commander would have a good visual on them while “buttoned up”.
The KT also had a similar arrangement.
Corrections undertaken
Thanks for that - I was unaware that the Germans had any such detection system; the Allies “Yes” with their “gas paint”, but this was a first for me(!)
As an after-note I’ve been to La Gleize - the first time back in the late 70s, when a very enthusiastic but amateurish gaggle of us young soldiers drove down from Moenchengladbach one sunny Saturday afternoon to seek out the King Tiger. We had one tattered copy of an After the Battle magazine and that was our guide. We also stomped around the area a fair bit and found the famous junction showing the Schwimmwagen and half-tracks. The respective girlfriends who’d been dragooned into coming along were less than impressed. A soothing beer in the bar adjacent to the Tiger helped, although when the owner invited us to view his military collection kept in the cellars, their spirits dropped again.
The second time was much later, around 2002, as an assistant to a briefing officer who was conducting a battlefield tour for the TA Infantry Battalion I was attached to. The tank had been refurbished, and a purpose-built museum erected (containing what had been the private collection we viewed back in the 70s).
It was all very impressive - any King Tiger is - but some of the charm seemed somehow, to have been lost. And the bar had gone.
Here is some excellent research by a fellow countryman on La Gleize.
You my find a lot of other related vids on his UTube channel.
Lucky me, myself/expat living in Frankfurt it’s just a 2,5 hour drive to the “Bulge” battle sites which I visit frequently … mostly in Winter.
My Dad fought there with Pattons Army … must have been quite cold according to him
Here is another vid giving you a in-depth view of Peiper’s complete attack route :
Great videos - so very evocative both of the conflict back in '44 but also my own perambulations as a young soldier; nothing seemed to be impossible back then! An almost spontaneous decision one Saturday not to drink oneself to destruction, and instead an impromptu battlefield tour, albeit amateurish, but it was great fun. Even the girls actually enjoyed getting out of the garrison and doing something different for once.
I’d actually visited the Ardennes before all that; back in 75 I think. I was at a Div HQ in southern UK. The Div was earmarked as a reinforcement formation for Germany should the need arise. Accordingly, we were lightly scaled. The General Officer Commanding presciently perhaps, released that if we were deployed for real, then we might find ourselves cut off as per the US forces in 1944. He therefore ordered that a battlefield tour take place, focusing on Bastogne.
Long story short: this was all aimed at officers, but I managed to tag along, together with very few other ranks. We stayed in the barracks at Bastogne, and it was snowing, so very atmospheric. The tour was brilliant, mainly because at the time, the actual participants were still alive and were present on the tour lecturing. These included General Desroby, and the former Chief of Staff of Panzer Lehr Division. I mean, wow!
It was such a privilege though as a 20 year old an awful lot passed me by. La Gleize didn’t feature obviously, but getting to the huge memorial above Bastogne and its associated museum was quite something.
During my somewhat chequered career, I count myself as very lucky.
So I finished the basic camo with a few imperfections to be dealt with.
The front and sides are close to the colour drawings but I diverted a little on the front and the turret sides after studying the original fotos a little closer. The top of the hull & turret are mostly “fictional”. There are hardly any good top-shots of German WW2 tanks around to get more specific / accurate … oh well.
Test fitted the 3D printed tracks which will undergo some weathering with the side-skirts being the next step covering up most of the running gear anyway.
As with my other Panthers from KG Peiper my intention is to present the tanks shortly before and/or at the early stage of the offensive when the still were relatively brand new. Many of the after battle fotos prove that most of them started out with a full completion of their side-skirts … one of the first items going missing after they were abandoned.
This could actually be #231 passing through Stoumont … sporting the MG mount on the commanders cupola rail. I believe it is a spare “Steel” road-wheel visible on the left rear deck. But #211 is also a valid assumption.
#221 would have been further ahead in front of the column behind the burning #225 during the initial engagement while entering Stoumont. Note the Balkenkreuz being on the left side.
So I have worked a little to finalise the “basic” appearance of the 231.
Adjusted the camo on the turret rear area a little … inspired by the combat fotos introduced.
Got the decals from ECHELON (Set AXT351034) on so far … I will attempt a little more research on the Balkenkreuz on which of the rear bins …
So I’ve sprayed the side-skirts …
Left side is imaginary … “borrowed” most of that layout from the TAKOM camo recommendations.
The right side is challenging the original …
Still some “touch ups” to be done.
