HL Panther G customization diary

[jeff1101]

The rear idler is held on by a phillips or cross point (depending how you refer to them) screw, it took me a while trying to remove them with various sizes of allen key to realise it was a damn screw!!! Just unscrew & it comes off fine

i was considering a spring upgrade as mine will stay pretty much flat to the ground if you push down on it, but it doesnt seem to make any difference when its running.

Thanks! I have been wracking my brains finding ways to remove that dam idler. The access hole on the idler is pretty small. I would have to be careful unscrewing it or I am liable to strip the screw heads.

[simonm]

The scew is captive & has a fair bit of room to move about in, mine has been off more times than I care to remember & I havent managed to strip it yet, its very similar in size to the ones that hole the upper & lower holes together

[simonm]

Just looked on the forum and cant find the '9 O'clock Spring Fix' althought there are some brilliant things on there that I haven't seen and are well worth looking at. Basically it goes something like this:- after taking the road wheels off and the swinging arms you pul the spring out and reposition it (with a bit of a struggle) at 9 O'clock, this increases the tension on the swinging arm and makes the suspension a lot less sloppy. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that I will have a look at that

[jeff1101]

The scew is captive & has a fair bit of room to move about in, mine has been off more times than I care to remember & I havent managed to strip it yet, its very similar in size to the ones that hole the upper & lower holes together

Captive screw? Now I get it. No wonder some solutions I read on the internet in removing the idler was to split the plastic at the edge of the idler wheel. (Where it is glued) I think yours is the better way.

[simonm]

Its a lot easier, I almost split the idler at one point as I couldnt see what held it on, it was just a guess it may be a screw, typical as everything else on the running gear is allen key!

[jeff1101]

Update 07/01/12

Next up was the installation of the rear track hangers.


The kit is made of plastic from Modellbau. Since It's plastic it can be glued with plastic cement and wont come off as easily compared to PE on plastic using CA glue.


I attached the track hooks(?) directly to the strip while still in its sprue. Its easier this way compared to gluing it when the strip has been removed.


Like all the brackets for the tank, I gave the strip (still attached to the sprue) the sanding treatment to thin it a bit and make it more "to scale". Again I was careful not to sand it too thin that it breaks during subsequent handling.

[jeff1101]

Updates cont'd



I prepped the tracks by cutting the protrusions that are supposed to be (on unmodified HL tanks) inserted in the holes on the hull sides.


I then separated the individuals tracks (by cutting them up with a knife) where they are fused together on unmodified HL tanks.


After finishing sanding, I removed the track hangers from the sprue and test fitted the tracks on the hangers.

[Red Devils]

Nicely done jeff1101, great idea.

[jeff1101]

Updates cont'd.


I then measured vertically where I will attach the track hangers and marked it with pencil. The measurement was a guesstimate based on panther side view line drawings of where the track hangers should be.


And here it is glued to the side of the tank. To better gauge where I should put the track hangers (horizontally), I used the radiator openings as guide. (see red arrow)


The opposite side was a problem since I wasn't confident I could line up the track hanger on that side with the track hanger I already glued on the other. Even marking with a pencil was dicey since It could move while the glue was drying. I wanted both track hangers to be absolutely aligned with each other. A solution I came up with was to cut plastic strip the exact length from the bottom of the track hanger to the top of the tank's side fenders.


I then used the plastic as a stop or sort of a guide to keep the opposite track hangers aligned vertically with the other side. Here you can see the plastic strip taped to the other side of the tank. It was then a simple matter of putting the track hangers on top of the plastic strips and gluing it in place.


Since the original holes for the tracks attachment points are no longer needed I filled it up with putty and sanded it smooth.


And here is the result of all my efforts. Top view showing both the track hangers glued and in place.

[Red Devils]

That is sweet, watching this WiP has made the decision for me that the HL Panther G will be the next project after my HL Tiger 1. Well done dude...