Taigen ( Fancy Heng Long ) Panther G

Panther Ausf G · Post by **Panther Ausf G** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:50 pm

Hi PainlessWolf.
Your Panther Ausf G build is excellent, your build log very well documented and illustrated.
Keep it coming.

Agree with you about the colour Phil.
But if your opponent is close enough to see and shoot at a little red axe head or fire extinguisher. Then you really are in trouble.

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 4:14 am

20th Day work involved cleaning, positioning and mounting the six small hooks that are found on the rear deck fan housings. These arrived Friday. I am still awaiting a couple of Tamiya parts sprues from Japan. I had intended to finish up these last bits all at once but as nothing arrived on Saturday, I decided to go ahead and at least get the hooks from Welsh Dragon mounted. I'll paint them tomorrow after the glue cures all night. More fun tomorrow.

tomhugill · Post by **tomhugill** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:18 am

It's coming together really nicely, what final colour scheme are you thinking? Btw where did you get the decals for the fire extinguisher?

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:49 pm

Good Morning, Tom,
Thank you! Since this tank came with a nice airbrushed job straight from Taigen, I have been just painting the add-ons to match. Doing some research, I am looking for the Panther that they based this model on. If found, I will add the unit decals to match. otherwise, something close from late 1944. The Archer Fire Extinguisher decals came from the Dragon Hobby store on ebay.
regards,
Painless Wolf

tankmad · Post by **tankmad** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:06 pm

Looking good great detail work.
Stevie

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:09 pm

Good Afternoon,
Stevie, East Front, Thank you, Gentlemen! ;o)
regards,
Painless Wolf

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:23 am

21st Day work involved the happy receipt of the Tamiya parts sprues I had been anticipating. I cannot encourage the Heng Long Panther or Jagdpanther modeler enough to pick up a couple of the 'B' sprues from the 1/16 Jagdpanther RC kit. You will immediately have a couple of moddable Sprocket Hub Covers to work with, the rare Return Track Slack Rollers ( you will have to find your own screw and washer but the instructions for the tank tell you the size and type. Make sure to allow a little extra length for the screw since you are going though Heng Long's cover and sidewall to put a nut on) and the Armored Shutters for the rear engine deck for late model Panther Gs. There are a host of other additions on the sprues, the Storage Box Lids, cable ends, 'C' hooks, etc. Truly a worth while purchase. I painted the previous night's lifting hooks and installed and painted the Storage Box Lids and the Armored Shutters this evening. More fun tomorrow.

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:43 pm

22nd Day work involved a good deal of sanding and fitment to get the Track Slack Rollers to fit. To begin with, the opening for the screw head had to be reamed out and deepened so that the hex cap screws I purchased would fit and rotate smoothly. The Tamiya part's shaft also made it far too tall to fit under the toothed ring on the HL sprocket. This necessitated cutting and sanding the shaft down until just the the wheel itself and a 1/64 thick ring of plastic remained. Along with the needed metal washer, this allowed the wheel to sit under the sprocket with enough clearance so that both could rotate and give allowance for any sprocket wobble. The next issue was that the Hex Screws were a tad too long at 1/2 inch to allow the transmission cover to sit flush again after the nut was on. The nut itself required a careful sanding job under the cover so that it would sit flush under the hole drilled for the screw shaft. To resolve this, I drilled a small hole in the hull and sanded the edges out and then the screw fit perfectly. I had intended to use 3/4 inch screws and fasten the assembly down inside the hull with the nut like Tamiya does but the HL gear boxes allowed no room for such hopeful foolishness. *chuckles* I will look today for an 8\32 3/8 inch Hex Head Engine Screw to do the other side with tonight and hopefully prevent the need for an alignment hole in the hull but I'm not sure such an item exists in the local Home Despot. I next sanded the back smooth on the Tamiya Sprocket Hub Covers and will look for small earth magnets today to glue onto the backs of those. The HL sprockets only require two small molded nuts to be clipped or sanded off of their face for the modded Tamiya cover to sit flush. It is a neat trick to keep your sprocket covers in place using the earth magnets next to the steel hex screw holding the sprockets on. Lastly, I sanded and shaped the cut made in the Driver's side sponson for the headlight wiring to sit in when the hull and deck are screwed together. I had noted that the huge wad of hot glue placed over that wiring made the fender raise up slightly. A little attention and it is a smooth fit now. More fun tonight!

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:42 pm

23rd Day's work and getting close to a wrap up on this one. Took some time to go back down to the local Home Despot and Lo' and Behold!, A 8\32 Hex Head Screw in 3/8 inch length.

) The Track Roller installation went a lot smoother on the Radioman's side of the tank. There was no need to drill a corresponding hole in the hull like I had been forced to do for the other side's install. I briefly considered taking that side apart to redo it and putty up the drill hole but decided against it. The screw fills the hole snugly. So, to recap, for anyone wanting to use the Roller that Tamiya provides for the Panther and Jagdpanther on Heng Longs models of these vehicles, you will need two 8\32 x 3/8 inch Hex Head screws, washers and nuts. For the Metric minded crowd, use the 5mm version. The rest of the evening involved finishing the work that I had begun on making up a version of Tamiya's Sprocket Hub Covers. I had sanded the backs of the covers smooth previously and found magnets of a suitable diameter on the hardware store run yesterday so all that remained was slicing off two discs and sanding to fit. The Dremel was required for this. I used the cutting wheel and sanding stone and an hour's worth of work to get two discs that would fit snugly in the HL sprocket holes on either side. Some glue and touch up paint and that labor was finished. The covers don't quite match the rest of the sprocket in terms of the paint so tonight, I will dry brush them and bring the molded hardware on them into relief. Looking at what I have left to do on this tank, I have an Aerial to mount and some minor paint touch up and the Commander to paint. I believe that will complete the work and I can begin to have a different level of fun with it. More fun tonight.