Haven't done anything to my Panther yet. I pulled it apart to see the extent of the previous owner's 'modifications'. They weren't as bad as yours. My Panther hull top ended up with Martin (Edelweiss3945) which he used to replace the scratch built top on his superb Panther II.
I'm thinking of buying a HL Jagdpanther top and marrying it with the Tamiya chassis. I think it would fit OK and would make a cost-effective alternative to buying a Tamiya JP.
Cheers
Chris
