Taigen ( Fancy Heng Long ) Panther G

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon,
*Bows* I work out of my home, having an office set up with my work laptop, phone line, etc. In all seriousness tho', I do most of my modeling in the evening before bedtime or on the weekends. I might run at lunch and pick up some item, tool or part if needed. *chuckles* This 'Hobby' helps to keep me 'sane' as I am somewhat of a recluse as I grow older.
regards,
Painless Wolf

[PainlessWolf]

24th Day's work involved a couple of simple things. I drilled mounting points in a couple of the Engine Access Plates on the rear deck and put lifting handles there. I had seen this done on Jagdpanthers a lot and noticed a couple of historical pictures of Panthers with this modification as well so I added it. Next I considered the Jack block. It would have been simple enough to remove it and paint it a nice wood color and leave the mounting straps camo-ed but I reasoned as this Panther was rolling out of the Divisional Laager for the first time, the block would have been painted the tank colors as well. I decided to leave it be. No handle either as I did not want it to interfere with turret rotation. Next was a really simple thing, I hung the new bucket off of the Tow mechanism. I love doing that as it adds a human touch to these implacable machines of War. I considered the aerial next but decided to leave it be until I had the turret, deck and hull all reassembled. That point is coming soon as I am running out of things I want or need to do to the Panther. This build has been fun and I learned from great modelers a lot of better ways to do things. More fun tonight.

[Phil]

Now that’s looking, like the way you have blended the colours in on your mods to match the tank.

There are so many different ways to the rear deck you could go a bit mad deciding which one you want to do, I think as long as you are pleased with the end result then the therapy has worked.

This is my Jagdpanther deck, as you can see it has bump stops made from some little rubber grommets.





... just noticed I've missed the overflow pipe, and a few other bits, doh!

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning, Dr. Phil,
Your Jagdpanther looks like it could be hopped into and driven away. ;o) I agree completely about the rear decks on these beasts. I've seen what looked like literally hundreds of different ways that it was set up by the crews in the vehicle in pictures in the various reference books. Thank you, Sir, it makes me happy to be able to sit down and just fiddle with one of these builds.
regards,
Painless Wolf

[PainlessWolf]

25th Day's work is sort of short, sweet and simple. It's the end of a long work week and as always, sitting down to tinker with a tank has relaxed me to the point of being able to easily sleep. Before ZZZZZZZ's , I was able to touch up the sprocket hub covers and match them in a little better with some dry brushed flat black. I looked the deck over for anything I could add at my level of skill and awake-ness and noted that the bar that runs across the exterior of the canister that holds the main gun cleaning rod was missing. I looked all over, through left over spares and sprues and while there was plenty of round plastic and wire, there were no angle or flat pieces to be found. I was about to call it a wash and visit the Hobby Shop for a piece tomorrow when my eye fell upon the rows of CD cases in my office. I found an empty black backed one and measured the leading edge against the canister. A perfect fit! I sat down with an exacto and plastic file and soon had my flat stock. Some glue and paint to match the camo on the canister (as best I could) and I was pretty satisfied with the result. I think that sans the aerial and smoothing out the turret rotation, I am ready to plug and screw everything back together. More fun tomorrow!

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
EF, thank you for the verification on the handles. The bucket? Most of the pics I have seen one shown in have it beat to blazes and dinged up to the point of being binned. Water for washing or some other utility purpose perhaps? As to why it wasn't stored inside, It may have been on some tanks but in the heat of battle, the last thing you want is your loader tripping over a bucket with a live round in his arms. At least I think this way. Space was at a premium in the Panther too, I read. What about that schmallturm thing that they dreamed up? Barely room for you and your uniform in that one. *chuckles*
regards,
Painless Wolf

[PainlessWolf]

26th Day's work took care of the last of the actual building and vehicle paint. Since the aerial has no board connection on a 2.4 GHz setup, the wire had been removed. The molded on aerial base had been removed and opened up already. To make the aerial removable for future mods or servicing, I glued a piece of rubber tubing to the aerial's base and made it a press fit piece. A touch of paint and it was complete. Next I addressed the turret rotation. Tamiya uses press in rollers but I have had success with hard plastic, self adhesive dots. I tried the Tamiya configuration but the turret with it's long metal gun tube was still dragging in front. It took eight dots but smooth rotation was achieved. It had been almost a month since initial disassembly so I had to look up the correct plug in position on the board for everything but thanks to the site's excellent electronics section, turret, deck and hull were soon bolted back together and the battery charging again after testing. Next up is picking a unit and applying the markings and painting the Commander. More fun tomorrow but almost at the end.
regards,
Painless Wolf

[cannedheat]

hi old chap wot wot
after all this work to make a brilliant panther I do not think I would dare venture out with it, it deserve being in the masterclass old chap so flaunt it, if you have the means get it on a vid put it on the site/utube and tally ho wot wot

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Thank you for the vote of confidence, CH. Masterpiece?, maybe if I was responsible for the beautiful paint job on this Panther but all I did was keep from ruining it while modeling around it. For Masterpiece grade Panthers, I look at Jeff1101 and Hotte's Builds. Those are amazing! and set a new Benchmark for the tank. If I am guilty of anything, *chuckles* it is showing what can be done with a HL based Panther by a Modeler with basic means and basic skillset. Once the markings are applied and I've painted the Commander, I'll do a Show Off thread. ;o)
regards,
Painless Wolf

[PainlessWolf]

27th Day's work involved Unit Markings and a coat of dull to preserve the dust dry acrylic paint. The only task left to accomplish is the Commander. More fun tomorrow night