Hugill big cat rescue/rehabilitation

[tomhugill]

I love rebuilding a Tamiya, saving it from someone that’s built it badly.

Whenever I see gray Jagdpanther or Kingtiger, I know that the specialist staff was involved

Mrs.Hugill please keep us up to date

This is my experience too of buying them used!

[Panzermechaniker]

Judging by the shape of the rest of the Jagdpanther I have to think those twisted torsion bars were by the original builder not knowing what they were doing on the install. The first couple of bars you install as a newb are frustrating as the instructions are practically useless until you learn to do some prep work and of course the slight knock in with a screwdriver handle on the swing arm. Nice to see you bringing it up to what it should have been in the first place

[HERMAN BIX]

I'm quietly confident he's got this eh
Mr H has rescued that many Cats he almost a registered animal shelter

[tomhugill]

Judging by the shape of the rest of the Jagdpanther I have to think those twisted torsion bars were by the original builder not knowing what they were doing on the install. The first couple of bars you install as a newb are frustrating as the instructions are practically useless until you learn to do some prep work and of course the slight knock in with a screwdriver handle on the swing arm. Nice to see you bringing it up to what it should have been in the first place

Ha you're spot on there! Needed to refit torsion bars on a tamiya tiger chassis and even with the manual it took me a good 15 minutes to get the process right

[Panzermechaniker]

The first Tamiya I built was a Tiger 1 (actually it's just being rebuilt and refinished now) I remember when I got to the inserting the suspension arms and torsion bars part I went to some video builds on YT. I remember one of them was like 5 minutes of installing the tires and then like most just conveniently skipped over the torsion bar bit. One thing I figured out was to slightly clean out the holes for the arms in the stays. Some of them are drilled too small by a tiny amount which makes the arm hard to get through. Another frustrating thing I found with both my KV1 and my Jagdpanther build was since some of these Ebay sourced kits might be NIB from Japan they have been sitting around for quite a few years and I snapped one side of the slotted end of the weak metal on three arms between the 2 kits just from the initial twist on the torsion bar. I was lucky at the time because I could just order new arms and would get an extra set of torsion bars with the order from AAF. Now with AAF gone I'm not sure where you would source the arms anymore. It's quite funny how fast you can install the torsion bar/arms after you have done a half dozen kits with them considering the head scratching the first time

[Meter rat]

Look forward to these being made good.

Likewise, Panzermechaniker, following our conversation, I look forward to yours being completed.

[tomhugill]

Been a long time since I'd looked at this one. Id been slowly gathering bits however. I've not quite got everything to reinstate the proper mechanisms in the casemate but I did buy a trumpeter early jagdpanther zim kit off forgebear a while ago.

Fitting this was tricky as there are a lot of small differences in positioning and size. The back plate in particular was the worst and lead me to have to cut off the access hatches and reposition. I've got a few gaps to fill but I'm not fitting the zim on the lower hull where the wheels are so I'll use that to infill.

I got some absolutely beautiful printed bits off a chap I know and they're going to fit really nicely. They'll be going on right as the end though so they don't get bashed when I'm fitting the stuff in the casemate


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[Panzermechaniker]

Really like those printed C-clamps with chains and pins. Always a pain in the ass doing them all and mounting separately

[Dogberry]

You are to be commended. I like it when people rehabilitate badly built kits especially the Tamiya Kits. I have done it more than once. It makes me wonder about some people, it’s more difficult to make some of the mistakes rather than build it properly. I love the moment when it’s all stripped down ready for rebuild.

Some people obviously with more money than sense build a kit and spend a fortune on extra detailing bits and pieces, then make an absolutely pigs breakfast of building it.

These are the people that advertise it on Ebay as “Rare” of “professional paint job” and try and justify an over the top price. If I see another Tiger 1 for sale and they use the name Wittmann in the title description I will scream.

Sorry Rant over


Looking at the photo’s my fingers are itching. I’m thinking open all the hatches, low relief engine, Full brass, No zimm, replace last wheel with steel wheel, sighting periscope linked to main gun,,,,,, I must stop it I have enough projects this summer.

[tomhugill]

You are to be commended. I like it when people rehabilitate badly built kits especially the Tamiya Kits. I have done it more than once. It makes me wonder about some people, it’s more difficult to make some of the mistakes rather than build it properly. I love the moment when it’s all stripped down ready for rebuild.

Some people obviously with more money than sense build a kit and spend a fortune on extra detailing bits and pieces, then make an absolutely pigs breakfast of building it.

These are the people that advertise it on Ebay as “Rare” of “professional paint job” and try and justify an over the top price. If I see another Tiger 1 for sale and they use the name Wittmann in the title description I will scream.

Sorry Rant over


Looking at the photo’s my fingers are itching. I’m thinking open all the hatches, low relief engine, Full brass, No zimm, replace last wheel with steel wheel, sighting periscope linked to main gun,,,,,, I must stop it I have enough projects this summer.

Totally agree! It's a bit of a labour of love. I've only built one tamiya out the box (and one was a static conversion) as I usually haven't managed to justify the price.

It's very satisfying to see something respected and being able to really put your stamp on it! Also in the UK some cracking deals on absolute sheds!

I like your ideas there on a jp. I rehabilitated another one years ago which had everything you mentioned there on (including the moving sight), lovely tank. Well worth the time if you go that route!

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