RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Well, I have a little more time to update progress on the Panther build (strangely) so here it is.

To start the breakdown of the lower hull was pretty straightforward, being very similar in design to my Torro KT As I mentioned earlier, all the internals are destined for elsewhere - the gearboxes are going to upgrade my KT and the rest of the electricals will be transplanted into a planned future Panzer III project. I'm a little sad to see the stock paint go as it is actually quite good I think. What I was pondering was whether or not strip off the original paint or paint over it. In the end I opted to strip it and start afresh with the new. To do this I tried a new product (to me - Clean Slate Ultra) which met with varying results to be honest Long story short, this wasn't quite as simple as I had hoped. The hull sides and rear weren't too bad (I don't have an image of the stripping process itself) but the suspension arms I just ended up painting over as it really didn't make much difference stripping them.
The base coat I used here is Ammo RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb '44' (DGI) which is one of Mig's two late dunkelgelb versions (DGI and DGIII). There are three in all and the two '44's are much lighter and less green (to my eyes) that the earlier 'MW' version. I'm am thinking that looking at it liberal use of a filter or two will certainly be in order but we shall see as they say. Some of the wheels here were likewise stripped with the above product and although it does a reasonable job I really can't tell the difference. I think this product, and stripping the old paint may be more useful/necessary where there is a lot of fine detail and/or small parts - oh well one lives and learns.(still ) The next step was to start installation of the upgraded Corleis adjustable torsion bar suspension. In fact the installation itself is fairly straightforward . However, setting this up and fine-tuning is a completely different matter . Truthfully it's still a bit of a dark art for sure but I did at least get it to work in the end, albeit far from perfectly. The difficulty is that one needs to load the chassis with the extimated weight of the complete tank. This seems easy enough (I found, conveniently, that my in incomplete P3 was the exact weight I needed to load the Panther hull). However, one still has to take account of facts such as the metal tracks and wheel, which are unsprung weight for the suspension (dohh). Also, actually tuning each bar in relation to the others, and loading the front and rearmost bars, as instructions suggest, becomes just plain esoteric . Still, like a Rubic's cube it'll keep me amused for weeks I suppose
That's pretty much it for now. I'll be back with more updates and pics as soon as I can.

You are approaching this project with a remarkable penchant for Ordnung. I found it interesting and potentially quite helpful to me and others to see all the aftermarket parts you bled for and assembled before diving into the project. And you are continuing with most helpful photos.

My four cents worth (i.e. two times two cents = four cents):
For one, yes, I, too, did like that "stock" Taigen paint job. But you are headed to better accuracy.

For the second, the Panther engine and the Pzkw. III engine sounds differ. Taigen supplies two different sound modules in their V3 Panther and Pzkw. III tanks, the Panther's Maybach 230 Engine and the Pzkw. III's Maybach 120 TRM Engine. Both of these are 12-Cylinder gas engines, so it could be (I do not know) that the Pzkw. III got upgrades throughout the war (as did, e.g. the Tiger I, switching from the Maybach 210 to the 230). I have some books on the Pzkw. III so it you need me to check, just holla!

Thanks, Dr Professor. It's true I am certainly not looking to re-invent the wheel, just to document my Panther build along with a few observations and ideas where and when they occur. If the thread and details are of some use to others at some point then so much the better.
You quite right of course the Taigen MFU (v3), etc, destined for my Pzkw.III project has the Taigen Panther sounds module. To correct this end I will need to replace this with the Panther module with the PIII specific Taigen sound module which will make that build a whole lot less expensive than the present Panther excursion ( ).
For the Panther I have already a Clark TK80SP ready, along with the two available programmable sound packs although only one is for those Panthers with flammenvernichter mufflers, which I will need if I am to follow the plan for nr.122. This pack is based on the Trier Panther with Maybach HL230 P30 engine as does the Saumur Museum Panther (without flammenvernichter). What the difference in sound is I'm not sure yet (have yet to check them out) but as long as it sounds good....
And thanks also for the book/info offer, very much appreciated (and I may well take you up on it!). I have only the Haynes Bovington museum manual on the the Pzkw. III at the moment but for now I'm focussing on the Panther build. I'm no military historian for sure so much is new and fascinating material for my eyes (and part of the fun of course!).

Panther Saumur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD267I-krA4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgqlo0xtM7s
Inside Panther Saumur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIhtrvSOjo

for information, possibly? sorry if not in English, but from French magazines
http://www.maquetland.com/article-photo ... -g-koblenz
https://fr.topwar.ru/37354-infrakrasnye ... ankov.html
https://www.caraktere.com/articles/BB31-nachtjager.pdf
Good reading

Panther Saumur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD267I-krA4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgqlo0xtM7s
Inside Panther Saumur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIhtrvSOjo

Back from the Christmas break it's time for an update. First, though, thanks Jofaur86 for the links the info looks very useful and I shall certainly be taking a close look at it.

So, regarding my Panther build, what I realised was that in my eagerness to get started I made some assumptions that might not tally with the reality of nr.122. Specifically, I primed and painted the lower hull, it will be seen, in Ammo's '44' Dunkelgelb which I believed to be how Panthers were leaving the factory at the time. However, I subsequently learned (or not) that growing restrictions on supply of paint (and pigment for production, etc) along with a need for expedience lead to late production Panther G's (and armour generally) leaving the factory in a base coat of red oxide primer with camouflage colours being added by the unit they were assigned to. Oh well, whatever, as they say, taking another look at old, blown up, clackered nr.122 really doesn't reveal much. Here the only other pic of him I have;
However, I came across some suggested camouflage schemes for 1945 Berlin Panthers provided by 'Star Decals' that included a possible colour pattern scheme for nr.122 which, whilst this may not be the case, is as good as I can get given I am assuming they almost certainly know a lot more than me;....
In the end, it is not clear this is how nr.122 looked before it was sent to oblivion, or even earlier when it was nice and shiny, but it's enough for me to work with until I know otherwise (and probably beyond!). Of note is the suggestion in this scheme that the factory applied base oxide primer is left exposed with just the Dunkelgelb and Olivegrun camo patterns applied on top - no rotbrun So with this in mind, it was back to the airbrush, mutter mutter, splutter, splutter
Paint applied, wheels and idler attached. What became more than obvious was just how far off were my assumption about the Corleis suspension set up - in fact it I had loaded those torsion bar springs so much I think it was good for about a 15kg Panther! This whole thing with this set up became a bit of a nightmare to be honest (some people call it a learning curve??), but that's another story too
Whilst the eagle-eyed will notice my big mistake of fitting the self-cleaning later idler wheel instead of the earlier 'type A' cloggy in the mud idler which Damiler-Benz insisted on sticking with (literally) I should point out that I am aware of this but 1) am still not sure from the pics of battered nr.122 which wheel is actually fitted and 2) I don't have the type A to hand (though I think I saw them on Mr Forgebears website so it's all good as some odd people say). Anyway, to keep some semblance of a work-flow to continue I have perhaps temporarily fitted the new and improved idled that (appaerently) DB didn't fit (unless they did, anyone?).

On with the task in hand, the next move was to fit those stealthy-smooth looking new Taigen Premium gearboxes with all them fancy old ball races and nice lids and stuff;
Now I have to admit I was anticipating problems with fitting these because, as will be seen, I planned to install the final drive through further ball-bearings fitted it the shaft output casings as I had done on my KT (much is, understandably, similar to that tank in terms of design);
The difficulty, I thought, might be that these 'Premium' gearboxes come with their own additional mounting plate that is bolted to the standard gearbox mounting plate in Taigen tanks, as can be seen here;
As it turned out this was not an issue as Taigen had kept the Shafts in place (good) and the fitted fairly smoothly through the bearings, which was made easier by leaving them loosley fitted until the gearboxes were firmly located;
One thing I did do at this juncture, and it turned out to be a very useful move, was to make the lower original gearbox mounting plate easy to release from the outer underside of hull. The two screws that secure this plate from the top are not accessible with the gearboxes in place so I fixed them with Loctite and left the lower outer two relatively free. This work brilliantly because it means the whole platform to which the gearboxes are fixed can be swivelled forward by just removing those two lower screws. This makes it super easy to adjust the suspension as and when needed. This probably sounds somewhat convoluted but if you are fitting this suspension to the Taigen Panther you will certainly know what I mean
Anyway, once the gearboxes were fitted I fitted the tracks and again set up the suspension , which this time started to look more like it should and, indeed, act more like it should:
Whilst fitting the gearboxes, etc, I also took the time to upgrade the pathetic, flimsy, cables that Taigen badly soldered to the motors with a decent gauge silicon cable and put some nice bullet connectors on the ends in readiness for the MFU installation, etc. Here is also a view of the gearboxes opened (well, nothing new here really, just some nice steel cogs, ball bearings on all shafts, and 390 motors - then wired with brittle wire insulated by some kind of hard cheese - why do Taigen do this one wonders? );
Lastly (for this update) one thing that become apparent was the load on the idler adjustment set up provided by Taigen. A similar situation I found with the KT (similar Taigen solution) I noticed that there was considerable flex in rear hull when fitting the tracks. This is probably ok most of the time but I found on the KT that adding a simple brace made a huge difference to the strength and stability of adjusting mechanism and general running of the drive chain. Consequently I replicated that upgrade here;
And this is it for now, the next steps will involve installation of the electronics and (hopefully) completion of the lower hull, which is when the fun really starts (well perhaps! )

An articulate, informative, and immersive running commentary, as usual, Doc You've also lost none of your enviable neatness, and presentation skills, over the Christmas break, either. (Hope it was a good one!)
That's already an alluring-looking Panther hull you have there. , but given your previous inspirational work, that should come as a surprise to no-one.
The Berlin battle decals are an interesting find, and might well be useful for others wishing to deck a Panther out in non-mainstream livery. I shall certainly be in the front row watching this take shape, and then clank into being.

Completely agree with Roy! This thread would make a great companion booklet to be issued with the model.

Thanks chaps for the encouraging comments.
A little more progress to update on. This mainly involved a few 3D printed additions to the general organisation of the lower hull electronics. The first of these is the speaker box which is a further development of the design I began with for my Chieftain and I have now adapted for the Panther. This version includes the reflex ports that worked well on the Cheiftain However, I have added to this sliders within the ports that now means I can fine tune (or simply close completely) the internal ports to get the best sound possible;
The insert pic shows the slide hook that I can use to move to the desired position. The finished box now included an entirely unnecessary speaker cover that I designed (turbo) but I just like the look Returning to the lower hull, here it can be seen (just) that I have now added a clear Perspex floor above the torsion bars (as I did with my KT) which makes is easier to spot suspension problems (with most of the torsion bars); The speaker (Visaton FRS7) and box are a pretty tight fit but uses the maximum space available. However, what will be noticed here is the inclusion of the smoke unit pipes which, as can be seen, I have routed straight through the the speaker box! This was necessary as it otherwise meant messy pipes running over the hull around the speaker that, whilst doable, would been much less tidy; The ends of the smoke tubes terminates with a push-fit reducer connector (for a Tarr unit) that I designed for easy removal for later maintenance, which I anticipate in particular regarding the suspension set up: The next step if to fit the Tarr unit itself and the Clark TK80SP control unit. However to do this I made a bespoke box for the TK80 that had a couple of extra features. The box at the top of the following pic is a failed print that I keep to show how the pre-wired TK80 cables are securely clamped by the box. The box itself also has ventilation under the board and a fan fitted above the FET's. I added to this an additional heatsink to the audio amp.
The fan is easily plugged (see insets) into the vacant motor and power sockets, left by using the prewired cables to connect to the motors. The fan can be plugged in to the power socket which will run constantly at maximum speed or (better I think) it can go in one of the vacant motor sockets which will have the fan running at a proportional speed. In any case, the fan will run pretty slow because I have used a quiet 12v for this very reason. Now, yes, I know this is all completely unnecessary overkill for most applications but it was simply a case of being able to and, kind of, why not (shoot me if you will )? Here, finally, is the TK80 connected to the motors with (in last pic) the Tarr smoker also installed. There are, of course, many different Smoker options available but I opted in this case for a Tarr unit simply because it fit fairly neatly into the space available. Even so, the measurements are pretty tight to be sure but, so far, have worked out as I hoped. Given the available space I still have to figure out the practicalities of locating a power and smoke switch as well as various other connections. As it stands it looks like any attempt to install a smoking barrel, as I had planned, will entail squeezing it all in the turret - oh well, that's for another day too