PANTHER G ZU-FUSS

[HERMAN BIX]

Ahh Colorado, just the name conjours log fires and plenty of room temperature Winter Jack Daniels Cider mmmmm
C'mon Mr Painless, send on the nvg hardware so I can get on with this eh
Oh, and unless your jeep has a trailer with seats in it, we wont fit !!
I will need to hire an IMAX van to allow space for us all and the huge Tetris game that is our baggage .
Last time we were there we got a Tahoe, and filled it. I got real good at Tetris each time we got on the road
Plus we bought an extra bag for the trip home.

This time we have an extra kid thrown in

Was out today getting birthday gifts for Mrs B as I will be away at work for it. Oddly enough, I found myself in a huge hardware/home chain store (Bunnings here) and got a roll of BRONZE mesh with 2.1mm squares, 910 wide by 2.1 M long for $85.
Now this is WWWAAAAAAYYYYYYY to much for me to ever use even on PzIV Schurzen & all other inventions, so I will have to think of stuff to use it on.I need about a square foot in bits for the next project.............just to good to pass up.
Oh, got her indoors a couple of Kardashian Kollection handbags makes the $85 I spent on to much mesh seem a bargain

[ALPHA]

Never thought I would see the Kardashian name on a Tank board ..............They do have a lot of junk in their trunks though

ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

Well the bags were a hit. Happened to have a function later that night at an awards dinner for rugby. Were some quite 'gentile' folks there, and I proceeded to degenerate into the rig-pig scoundrel I am thanks in small part to the stream of free refreshments
Safe to say my rather much more well behaved wife could only look & shake her head knowing more training was clearly required

[ALPHA]

Well the bags were a hit. Happened to have a function later that night at an awards dinner for rugby. Were some quite 'gentile' folks there, and I proceeded to degenerate into the rig-pig scoundrel I am thanks in small part to the stream of free refreshments
Safe to say my rather much more well behaved wife could only look & shake her head knowing more training was clearly required

Well on the light side...at least the little woman...didn't take the bags that were a hit....and hit you with it after that function

There's always a silver lining ........... ............

ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

Lads, Im back.
Safe and sound from an arduous 3 week hitch.

Worth the wait though, thanks to Mr Painless having good concience to whisper a word in an ear or two , my night fighting hardware turned up
Actually, NOT from Asiatam, but from RC.Tanks.De which I ordered just before I left for work.
Ole Mr Asiatam is going to now recieve my full wrath and a paypal complaint.

So now, I am going to load up on much missed JD's until I adjust back to normal life & try to chase the wife around a bit

[ALPHA]

Never mind the wife or relaxing....time to get this puppy finished.. dag nammit Herman...it's been way too long
Hop to it ...........CHOP CHOP

ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

Righto Sir , I get it !!
The new hardware was a little less than ideal. Seems I got 2 X gunners sets & 1 X comanders set, not the one of each as I asked.
No drivers set. The fit is a bit odd as well.
The gunners sight set would only work out of the box if I drilled a relatively huge hole in the mantlet to allow the recessing of approximately a third of the actual sight in order to line up the mounting points etc.
Cant see that as close due to the probability of these sights being removed at times depending on situation & conditions.
The lack of a proper drivers sight set is not so bad, all I need to do is build a mount. The rest will work.
As for the commanders sight set, I have almost 3 of them !!
One minute I cant get anything, nek minite(!) I have more than I know what to do with.
As I have no need for the IR searchlights to work, can happily disregard the wiring supplied.
The instuctions provided give the impression that all parts are singular, but in actual fact most are pre assembled. I believe using the same bloody stuff that H/L monkey uses to mess with us !!
Most are correct, some are not.
Anyhow, this was always going to be an "ambitious" build with all the facets I wanted to include, be cheating to back out on the last stage now

Scratched off the area on the mantlet for the mount, made and fitted a small extention to the mount base to accomodate the sight, and dry fitted.
FYI, if I was a dedicated battler, the sight itself is hollow & could be fitted as the IR tube to be within regs. But this one at best will allow the BB warning bulb to flash thru it I think.

[ALPHA]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!! Can't really tell by looking at what's there what the final product will look like...hopefully it will be cool
one thing you might want to try Herman...as I have done this in some of my machine guns....if you have any clear plastic sprue fit some in the tip of that night vision lens...it will catch the red light...and you will be able to see it from all directions...almost like fiber optics


ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

Gotcha................That was more of a heads up to anyone contemplating a Panther with NVG that also wants to battle & hide the emitter. I dont really care if it lights up or not for this application. If the stuff had arrived at the right time - when the hull was apart, I might have wired them in, but alas, the delay from Asiatam via Colorado(!! ) then the abyss forcing me into a double purchase to finally get on track again has rendered the idea moot.
Once the three station hardware is fixed, I then have the cables to run, as well as the firing cables for the rockets.
That lot needs to be arranged then removed for painting, then put on with the tools etc.

I have a paint scheme in mind along the lines of the very late diagonal scheme, but more of an angled abstract of straight lines/splinter type patterning with a bit of hinterhalt...........Hmmm, a bit "art-nouveux" eh ??

[ALPHA]

Gotcha................That was more of a heads up to anyone contemplating a Panther with NVG that also wants to battle & hide the emitter. I dont really care if it lights up or not for this application. If the stuff had arrived at the right time - when the hull was apart, I might have wired them in, but alas, the delay from Asiatam via Colorado(!! ) then the abyss forcing me into a double purchase to finally get on track again has rendered the idea moot.
Once the three station hardware is fixed, I then have the cables to run, as well as the firing cables for the rockets.
That lot needs to be arranged then removed for painting, then put on with the tools etc.

I have a paint scheme in mind along the lines of the very late diagonal scheme, but more of an angled abstract of straight lines/splinter type patterning with a bit of hinterhalt...........Hmmm, a bit "art-nouveux" eh ??

HMMMMMMMM....Actually...Sounds like you didn't catch your little woman yet

PRIORITIES HERMAN PRIORITIES

ALPHA