Panther G Early (Hybrid)

[Swamprat33]

Hi all, I picked up another HL Panther G some time ago and was planning to convert it into a Panther A.

Anyway, that was kicked into touch a while ago, and i was at a loss as to what to do.

I have now decided to backdate it into an early G with zimmerit and it will be a mini clone of my 1/6 Armortek Daimler Benz built Panzer Brigade 105 tank.

This will still be a fair amount of work but I still think it will be a reasonably quick build.

This is the basic overview of the main tasks and parts used.

Full Tamiya DMD / MFU system.
Modified 360 Servo traverse
I am using one of the RC tanks.DE / Forgebear Metal chassis along with:
Panther A / Early G rear idlers & sprockets in metal.
Metal road wheels
Taigen Metal tracks
4:1 or 5:1 metal gearbox with uprated motors

Replaced the stock exhausts with a pair of single pipes but keeping the armoured exhaust housings.

Top deck has been modified to remove the crew heater unit and replace with a conventional fan housing.
Remove all other additional Late G fittings from hull & turret.
Modify the gun mantlet to remove the 'chin'.

Detail where possible to match the Armortek version.
Add weld lines.
Add DB pattern zimmerit.
Paint & markings
Weather

Ive made good progress so far with the dop deck modified to remove all late G fittings and the crew heater has been cut out and re-plated. Waiting for replacement fan housing to complete.
Turret is stripped down and all late G fittings have been removed.
Mantlet has been modified & just requires some final smoothing.
Exhausts have been replaced.

I am hoping this will be a pretty straight forward conversion.
All the research was done when building my Armortek so i can get stuck in knowing exactly what to do.

The big 3 jobs are modifying the mantlet, repairing top deck after removing crew heater & the applying the zimmerit.

Having said that it is still childs play compared to some of the things i had to do to get the Armortek looking right.
Yes, 1/16 plastic is EASY!

Will update again at the weekend by which time most work will be completed (i hope).

Cheers

Tim

[Swamprat33]

I fitted the new fan housing and antenna mount this evening and then added the final detail pieces to the rear deck plates.
I got the parts from a damaged HL Panther top deck that i got from Forgebear.
Some careful cutting with Mr Dremmel to cut out the section and then trimmed. I then had to do a bit of a final sand to get them flush. I guess only 30 mins or so.

I then moved onto converting a pair of std servo's into 360 motors.
This was actually much easier that i had thought (thanks Scalawag).
I now have a pair of servo's that are 360 degree and connect direct to the Tamiya turret traverse output. Cant wait to try these out - they should be much faster than even blue motor HL units.

Once the mantle is completed, i will make a start on adding the weld lines with Milliput. I'm not planning on doing all welds like i did on my other Panther G because the zimmerit should cover almost all welds on hull and turret sides.

Hope to add some pix soon.

Cheers

Tim

[Swamprat33]

I completed the major work on the turret & top deck so added some casting effect with my home made Mr. Surfacer and then gave them a primer coat of Halfords red Oxide to see if the finish was ok.
I am pretty pleased how the mantlet turned out & any imperfections will be covered up when the zimmerit added.

IMG_1790s.jpg (81.71 KiB) Viewed 1183 times

The new fan housing and rear deck area looks pretty good and now ive added the panel lines and bracing to the rear deck it is nearly complete. Just a few beads of welding to complete.

Cheers

Tim

[Swamprat33]

Ive fitted the etched fan grills and added all required weld lines to upper hull & turret.
Ive just completed adding the Zimmerit coating to mantlet and turret using standard Milliput.
This is the first time ive tried to do zimm on a 1/16 tank and i found it to straightforward once id worked out the technique.

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IMG_1795s.jpg (95.57 KiB) Viewed 1180 times

I just mixed up a ball of Miliput and smeared a small amount onto the model, then using a wet finger or thumb, spread it out evenly over the area until a thin and uniform layer had been added.
I applied to one panel at a time, using plenty of clean water to keep it wet and smoothed out.
The panel was then patted dry with a paper towel which also slightly roughens the surface.
I then used a tool to 'scribe' the lines in on each panel trying to get it not too uniform and neat as was done on my Armortek.

Anyway, hope you like the results so far.

Will make a start on adding zim to the hull tonight.

Still need to give Forgebear a shout about the sprockets.

Cheers

Tim

[43rdRecceReg]

Really like your home casting effects. They look really believable. Must try that..