The German Panther is one of the more popular armored vehicle projects to work on. It's superior design and engineering made it one of the most effective afv's during WWII. The Panther offers the builder a few choices in terms of variants and configurations and the Battle Ready Armor kit provides a suitable platform on which to begin. The decision to begin this particular project was based on the need to create more room in the workshop whereby the flat sheet metal packs take up much needed space. We will only complete the assembly of the upper , lower hulls along with the turret and other select components. These can be done relatively quickly and there are a number of projects in front of this one which require our attention first.
As with other BRA kits, the sheet metal is shipped in flat sheets which must be thoroughly cleaned and primered before assembly. The sheet metal can be secured using either .125 rivets, conventional screws or a combination of both depending on whether or not you wish for the rivets to be seen or not. We have started reinforcing our lower hulls with the r/c conversion kits which include cross bars or supports that really tighten up or strengthen the lower hull in particular.
We also decided to reinforce the lower and upper hulls by using a MIG welder. Having never done this before this proved to be somewhat of an experiment but the results were good and not too ambitious for the first time. You have to be careful not to use too much heat or you will burn through the steel sheet. We used spot welds along some of the seams and welded along the mounting tabs inside.
In these first two pictures we have cleaned and primered the lower hull. There was quite a bit of surface oxidation so we took our time to clean them up prior to painting. Bending each component is made easier using a pair of welding pliers available at any hardware store. Once the lower hull was secured with rivets we reinforced the front glacis area with the MIG welder.
We added the rear hull plate to the lower hull and secured it accordingly. Note that the square cutout is on the left side of the rear hull. Bend the mounting tabs at the proper angle before test fitting this piece. It may take a few taps with a rubber mallet to get it into place.
The upper hull has just received three coats of self etching primer followed by a red oxide base coat. Be careful that you dont secure the mounting tabs behind the front mud guards. These will be used to not only secure the upper hull to the lower, but to secure the mud guards as well which will be added later.
Here we have the turret ready to be tightened up and prepped for the installation of the mantlet, gun mount and other turret features. We will seal all of the seams with epoxy prior to final assembly and paint.
