Oh No! I fell off the tank-wagon again...

[43rdRecceReg]

Ahhh...those were the days, Gary.

That tank retreat, in the woods, was almost an enchanted Secret Garden. You must miss it- I certainly do.
Anyway, yes, five years on and the Panther- albeit HL's version, is a well behaved and enjoyable drive. The airsoft in mine gets indigestion with the stock fluorescent yellow BBs. I had to tap the turret, and use a straw (though loading channel) to draw out a BB it couldn't despatch. BBs, it seems, with a slight midriff are inclined to get stuck in the works. It's okay now, though.

edit: and on the subject of augmentation, after the tide went out of the Loch this morning, there was a large collection of 'moon' jellyfish stranded there. They looked exactly like discarded implants.
I look on the hobby as some sort of mind augmentation.
The trouble is, a course of treatment can empty the pockets, and the pantry too. ..and, as with anatomical vanity projects, one op leads to another...

[Max-U52]

Roy, you know those BBs that come with the tank are garbage and should be shit-canned immediately. If the label doesn't say "seamless" they're going straight in the dustbin. Hope you didn't tear up that seal too badly.

[43rdRecceReg]

Roy, you know those BBs that come with the tank are garbage and should be shit-canned immediately. If the label doesn't say "seamless" they're going straight in the dustbin. Hope you didn't tear up that seal too badly.

I ordered some highly rated, ultra smooth 20g airsoft BBs. Some sell biodegradable ones, for airsofters with green credentials- but they're pretty expensive. I made the point of buying highly visible (white)
BBs that should be easier to track down later.

Edit:
You just reminded me of the airsoft teardown you did yesterday. Well, by chance I found this airsoft essential; on Forgebear's site. This could be ultra-handy in future! He's away until the 18th, incidentally, and so I'll have to wait for some bits I need before
performing surgery on the Panther:

[Afrikakorps]

Hi 43rd,
just had a quick skim through this thread and saw that you were compareing Taigen and Tamiya panther drive sprockets.
Because my original Tamiya plastic tracks would catch and bind on the sprockets, ( a known fault by Tamiya), and the difficulty and huge cost of metal tracks for a Tamiya panther, I also looked at that option of using Taigen.

I found that because the Taigen sprockets will not fit onto the Tamiya drive shafts, the Tamiya sprockets needed to be adjusted to fit the Taigen tracks.
First issue was the thickness of the teeth, the tamiya sprocket teeth needed to be filed thinner on the inside so as not to be too visible.
Next was the width of the teeth. The Tamiya teeth are wider than the Taigen and do not fully fit into the holes in the Taigen tracks. This was a slow and laborious task, but I filed both ends of each tooth so they meshed properly with the tracks.
Lastly, i found that a very thin brass shim was needed between the two halves of the Tamiya sprockets. This was to space the teeth so that they centred in each hole on both the left and right side of the track link.
All in all there was a bit of work and a lot of test fitting, but the final result was worth it. The panther runs well, weighs more, and looks better.
Cheers
Afrikakorps

Taigen tracks on Tamiya

still needs more weathering......me just being lazy

[43rdRecceReg]

Hi 43rd,
just had a quick skim through this thread and saw that you were compareing Taigen and Tamiya panther drive sprockets.
Because my original Tamiya plastic tracks would catch and bind on the sprockets, ( a known fault by Tamiya), and the difficulty and huge cost of metal tracks for a Tamiya panther, I also looked at that option of using Taigen.

I found that because the Taigen sprockets will not fit onto the Tamiya drive shafts, the Tamiya sprockets needed to be adjusted to fit the Taigen tracks.
First issue was the thickness of the teeth, the tamiya sprocket teeth needed to be filed thinner on the inside so as not to be too visible.
Next was the width of the teeth. The Tamiya teeth are wider than the Taigen and do not fully fit into the holes in the Taigen tracks. This was a slow and laborious task, but I filed both ends of each tooth so they meshed properly with the tracks.
Lastly, i found that a very thin brass shim was needed between the two halves of the Tamiya sprockets. This was to space the teeth so that they centred in each hole on both the left and right side of the track link.
All in all there was a bit of work and a lot of test fitting, but the final result was worth it. The panther runs well, weighs more, and looks better.
Cheers
Afrikakorps

IMG_5675.jpg

IMG_5674.jpg

To me, the weathering your have there is the right amount- and, it's beautifully done with some subtly blended touches. In a way, I quite like tanks to wear 'naturally', from actual wear and tear in the garden, or wherever- and for the colours to fade, as they would, from exposure to sunlight. Not to the point, however, where the Sun begins to deform the plastic, or plastic/metal substrate Then again, it doesn't harm to add a few touches of shading (oil stains, road dust, and the like) even to 'just-out- of-the regimental- depot', or 'on-the-transport- train' to newly built models. Subtle stains, track 'wear' and recess shading allow models to look more like the real deal in photos, and film clips.
I must say, the waffle-pattern Zimmerit on yours is also perfectly in scale.
A couple of questions, if I may:
The hull of your tank looks like a Panther G, but the gun mantlet is chinless. Is this a very late Ausf A example?
Are Taigen metal tracks not the same as Heng Long ones?
Oh, and yes, do feel free to post most pics here!

[Max-U52]

Roy, are you going to keep it airsoft?

[43rdRecceReg]

Roy, are you going to keep it airsoft?

It's the only game in town for Highland Hermits, Gary. By the way, these are the new premium BBs I've just bought:

6mm ultra smooth Softair BBs

...and that's my youngest Westie, Finn, lurking in the shot.
How are the feline friends doing?

[43rdRecceReg]

I've just removed the metal tracks from the HL Panther. I'm relieved to find that the Taigen metal sprockets fit perfectly in them. Final alignment checks won't be possible until I've removed the HL gearboxes, and then transplanted them into the Taigen lower hull. That might be the trickiest part, as Taigen mounting plates fit Taigen spec gearboxes with ease, but not all other brands of box- without modification.
Here you can see the HL plastic sprocket nestling, quite contentedly, in the Tamiya Panther G track, with the Taigen metal Panther drive sprocket alongside in the (presumed) HL Panther metal track.
It's an apparent case of good interchangeability.

HL sprocket in Tamiya Panther track with Taigen and HL metal combo alongside.

HL plastic Panther sprocket (L) with Taigen metal one for comparison

They look pretty much like twins, albeit made of different materials. At one time, all Taigen and HL products seemed to come out of the same moulds, and so maybe we shouldn't be surprised by the dimensional similarities.

[43rdRecceReg]

Tamiya had to mill slots out of the bottom glacis plate in order to accommodate the gearboxes. Then, a sticky square of ducktape-like material was provided as a cover up.
B-Man asked how HL dealt with this issue. Well, here's the answer:- twin recesses both in the HL plastic chassis, and the Taigen metal variant:

Taigen Panther metal hull- recesses for gearbox casing

That's the Taigen interior above, and here's the Heng Long model:

HL Panther gearbox case recesses

Given the same design solution, my guess is that the plastic and metal hulls were both produced in the same factory. So- the Chinese can even copy themselves
With a sigh of relief, the HL motors just happen to be a perfect fit for the Taigen hull, and gearbox retaining plate. Yippee. Let's hope the luck holds..

HL Panther gearboxes transplanted to Taigen chassis

Incidentally, the Tamiya Panther drive sprocket seems to be a perfect fit for the HL metal tracks. B.Man mentioned the tweaks he had to make earlier. This combo doesn't appear to need tweaking, and I'll bear that in mind for future reference. Maybe it's just a lucky set of tracks. The problems may appear with alignment (spacers needed?). If I recall correctly, Tamiya also supplied a shim for their early Panther sprockets, as it snagged the tracks, and wouldn't mesh properly. My Panther didn't have that issue, so maybe later models were supplied with a revised drive sprocket. The problem was discussed here:
viewtopic.php?t=25064

[43rdRecceReg]

Okay lads, (and maybe a few lasses )- this is what I gleaned so far:

MFU- The MultiFunction Unit is actually a V6.0, and not a 6.1 as suggested in the Ad. But, that's okay, as I'm impressed by the performance anyway. What's more, the unit takes up less than half the internal real estate space that a brace of Tamiya DMD units (ESC DMD + MFU) would occupy. Before you say it, yes, that's also true of the Clark TK series, the IBU2, and the Elmod as well.
However, this unit needs no programming. It should just work. More than that, I like the fact that it allows the gleeful operator the option to:-
- Switch the smoker on and off remotely
- Adjust the volume of the speaker remotely
- Change the engine and related sounds, remotely, just with the press of two buttons. In fact, I quite enjoy the novelty of running the Panther around accompanied by proportional Abrams sounds.

Here's the unit in place in the plastic HL, prior to the transplant into the Taigen.


Smoker On this type of smoker, which still makes a mechanical noise, but is quieter than earlier iterations, the 'Hole of Filling' is also the hole of smoking. Thus, only two pipes are needed, and not three. There is a later smoker available with a fan, and when it arrives I shall install in in the Panther. This one will suffice for the meantime.

Taigen Hull The Taigen metal hull has a switch plate incorporated into the hull floor. The plate includes a volume pan pot (potentiometer); an on/off switch for the smoker; and an on/off switch for the main battery supply. As it stands, this plate is redundant. Why? Well, the V6.0 unit has its own independent power switch, whilst the smoker and speaker volume controls are managed electronically by the transmitter.
I'd say, it's safe to remove the plate and associated wiring, and then blank the space off.
This is what the HL plastic hull looks like, naked:

I may put some small plant pots in it.
Incidentally, the Plastic hull, with running gear- but minus the motors- weighs just over 1lb (1/12 Kg), whereas the Taigen metal hull, with metal wheels, is almost three times that weight.
Thus the power to weight ratio is much greater in the cheapo ABS hull. Still, I'm reasonably confident that the V6.0 can handle the extra poundage.

More later, when I get round to transferring the guts of the plastic Panther to the Taigen special. So far, the motors and tracks are in place, without a hitch