Panther A Conversion

[Estnische]

Now for the rest of the internals.

The 4.1 gearboxes look great, and while the left side went in no dramas, the right side mounting points were wrong. I shaved off the old ones and made new ones, glued into place with JB Weld. After this photo was taken I saw Gary Hoff’s video of cracked mounts in his Panther. I glued in some square tubing as ribs on the floor and sandwiched it with a flat plate of plasticard, so it should act like a laminate and strengthen the tops of the mounts.

When I hooked up the motors to the MB and tested the functions, the motors went backwards. A quick check of the wiring showed the black wires soldered to the +ve on the motors and vice versa for the reds. If you go back to the wiring loom diagram, red should be +ve. I unsoldered them and swapped it around, and its all good now.

Unfortunately the new gearboxes project above the side sponsons and into the space around the hull MG. This puts the kybosh on my hull bracing locations for now, and I'm not sure about how it will eventually affect putting a servo on the MG.

Next is the central compartment which houses the battery and the RX18, which is attached to the front bulkhead. As the Panther is a 27MHz model, I got one of Kevin Grannum’s latest RC5HL paired up with a Taranis Q X7 radio with both sticks self-centring, and a 6ch receiver. The RC5HL is still loose in the photo. The new RC5HL allows you to use relays (the blue component at right side of tank) to block the track recoil activation. As I've said before, I know stuff all about RC, so I got Kevin to set it up for me with ER9X, and all I had to do was solder the relay unit using one of the spare leads Kevin threw in - great service.

If you are interested, here is what Kevin did for me, showing the improvements available in a hobby grade radio:

phpBB [video]

Then the rear compartment, which answers Raminator’s questions. The engine cover lifts off the hull, which will allow me to access an electrical panel with a socket for charging, the smoker switch and volume pot. The RC5HL is now secured with plasticard C-section which, like the bulkheads, can be slid out for access.

At the moment, the electrical panel is only a dummy - eventually I am hoping to use a laser engraved name plate in an appropriate German font. Retro 1940s switches would have been nice, but I couldn’t find any small enough. The panel has two locating holes so it will be held in place by the upper hull body posts. The two-part smoker now has the pump mounted on the right sponson with a hose clamp and the receiver is resting on the left sponson for now. Alongside the receiver is the smoker heater unit, with the outlet elbows redirected slightly to reduce kinks in the plumbing which is done in yellow and orange flexible RC fuel line. It is secured on top of an existing hull mount which I shortened so the heater would tuck under the electrical panel.

Eventually I mounted one hull brace instead of two. The bolt heads underneath are shallow-domed, so they should prove inconspicuous. I notched the brace slightly to clear the RX18. You can also see the receiver is hot-glued in place now, and there is a speaker underneath the electrical panel. I’m still thinking about whether to make a speaker enclosure under there or keep it modular.

Apart from labels, here is how the electrical panel should look when I finish. The spacing could be improved slightly.

[c.rainford73]

This is very impressive and so well done

[Estnische]

So at this point I thought I had finished with the lower hull. However, the issue of track tension was nagging away at me. Right from the get-go, I knew I could have bought a Taigen metal hull with quick-release and track tensioners, but I admired what Dean did with his original Heng Long lower hull, and thought I could justify it by keeping costs down. I knew if I’d bought a Henntec tensioner, costs would just escalate and keeping the original hull would have beens an exercise in futility. Then I saw Herman’s budget Tiger 1 Mato tensioner and thought it could be adapted to the Panther. I laid out all the components, and by the time you put the bracing rod in, there is not much room between the rear body posts and the centreline of the original rear axle stubs.

I removed the hull rear panel and sized things up. It just might work, although there is a good chance the bracing rod will interfere with the brackets that hold the rear panel. As the tensioner is like an eccentric cam, its centreline is higher than the original axle, and therefore further away from the rear of the hull. That gave me enough room to drill a much larger hole for the tensioner and still keep the same axle location horizontally and vertically, give-or-take the adjustability. It also runs through the centre of the external moulding, which provides some support and probably eliminates the need for the bracing rod. By the time it is painted it should look at home. The tensioner comes with screw-in axles (1), which don’t work at all with the Panther metal idler wheels which have inner and outer bearings. The Panther axles (2) are longer and are held in with circlips, so I shortened them, threaded them, and put a slot in the end (3) so they can be tightened with a screw driver. I’ll fix them in with thread locker or CA glue.

Then I fitted the adjuster clamps, which thankfully could be installed without needing to move the smoker heater. But the bracing rod won’t clear the rear hull securing brackets, so I’ll leave it out. The plastic moulding of the rear axle supports do this job anyway.

Here is how it looks on the outside, and the axle centreline is back with the adjustment in a neutral position.

[Ludwig von wigbearer]

Looks superb, a high quality job

regards john

[HERMAN BIX]

I'm really happy you got the cheap-as tensioner to work mate.
I contemplated a dog-leg shaped brace between the mounts, but a Panther clearly does not need one.
In running my various tanks both with and without tensioner systems, the jury is still out on long term effectiveness.
As for this particular version, time will tell.

Really nice production of an early Panther, one I hope to emulate

[Raminator]

Very tidy Estnische, the interior looks great all in white. Nice to see all that functionality squeezed in!

With regards to the bow MG, would you be able to fit a servo in between the gearboxes and run a linkage up and over?

[Estnische]

Its been a while since I've had some decent time available to make progress.

Started finishing up the outside ready to paint. I added back the tool racks and then I thought the spare tracks looked a bit silly the way Heng Long made them sit magically on the sides without any brackets. I got some brass strip and rod at my local hobby store and made them by hand. They don't look great close up, but once the paint is finished it should be OK.

Gave it a coat of Nato black to try and follow the paint method used by Andy's Hobby Headquarters on his 1/16 Jagdpanther video on Youtube.

[Aljones34]

Looks ok in the photo, and a lot cheaper than the Aber set. The hull deck looks so smooth you would think it was standard kit and not a conversion.

[HERMAN BIX]

I just hope I can get close to that Mr E.
Just a tip, the panthers had small rollers on the transmission final drive housing to stop the track folding in on itself & breaking when reversing.
I used an old Pz III return roller and a screw.

Outside of that inconspicuous detail, I have nothing but admiration & envy

[Estnische]

OK, so apart from a hit of matt clear to finish it, I'm done. The pics aren't great, but its going to rain here for week and I can't get outside yet. Click on them for a bigger view.

I tried to modulate the finish. but it has pretty much disappeared unless you are out in broad daylight.

I went with 2:1 ratio of Tamiya's Dark Yellow and Buff, Nato Green and Red Brown.

A lot of the weathering doesn't show, but you can pick it on the side of the turret.

Sorry Herman, I didn't go with the return roller.

I'll have to get outside and take some better pics.