Hl Jagdpanther metal tracks and spockets....fitting??

[wibblywobbly]

Has anyone else fitted metal tracks and sprockets to their HL Jagdpanther?

The original HL sprockets are attached by a smaller dia and longer allen bolt than the one that comes in the kit. This can be overcome by fitting the original bolt and packing it out with washers.

The rear idlers are a mystery.

The kit contains stub axles that are a push fit, whilst the HL idlers are screw fitted. HL have improved their quality and bonded the two halves of their idlers together, so I can't get the screw out without damaging the idlers.

To fit the metal idlers using the stub axles will mean drilling out the hull threads and bonding the axles in.

So, is this the only way of doing it...or is there an easier method??

Hoping someone has been there and done that!

Cheers

Rob G

[Woz]

Which metal tracks etc are you fitting?

[wibblywobbly]

They came from military might, They are Asiatam by the looks of it. I could just run it with the original plastic rear idlers, as HL have fitted brass bushes in them (they have certainly improved there quality with this model). It would be good to fit the metal ones though. The new ones are ball raced, which makes me think that they could be Tamiya replacement parts, but not having a Tamiya I don't know. The fronts slotted straight onto the drive shaft no problem.

Cheers

Rob G

[afv]

If it's anything like the panzer 4 i bought when i came to fit the metal idlers the screw through the idler i was removing looked as though it had been screwed and glued, nearly made a right mess of the hole, had visions of filling and re-drilling

regards  Jack.

[Woz]

I've not seen any replacment parts for the HL Jagdpanther so they must be for the TAM. Nice to see that The Tam stuff works fine without any major modifications.

[wibblywobbly]

All done. I took the plunge and drill out the screw mounts on the hull, and glued in the stub axles. In case anyone else attempts this feat, remove excess links from the tracks and feed them around the sprockets before joining them up again. With the metal tracks there is not enough room to get them onto either the idlers or the sprockets if you try doing it with a continuous run of track!

Rob G

[forgebear]

hi guys forgebear tracks and  idlers i have fitted to the jagdpanther as i stock them the old idlers can be removed by a thin screw driver put in the centre of the idler an just unscrew i used a round file to make the hole bigger and and then tapped the pin in and a drop of super glue to hold it from inside the tank dave

[wibblywobbly]

Yup thats what I did, though I took the master craftsman route and used a drill (I think it was a 4mm). I just measured the dia of the new shaft with a vernier and found a drill bit to match. I have just been running it around the garden and it is fine.