Jagdpanther Tamiya w/HL

[xrad]

Some recent work done. I was able to get a few asiatam motor mounts (pre-tapped brass standoffs) which are the perfect height for tammy hulls.

Replaced some of the 3mm screws, locktite, etc..

Primed in rustoleum brown (i find this takes all military colors better than the red primer and dries in 15 minutes and really sticks to metal and plastic)

Primered flat winter dirty white inside (left over from stug spray). Much easier to find little bits...

[Saxondog]

You certainly don't have much clearance between those motors, the stand offs have saved me on two builds and look really good as well.

Sax

[xrad]

motor clearance not too bad as the solder lugs are opposite each other and can be bent for more room. The gearing of these boxes is more than enough for moving the scale weight around, so I can afford smaller motors with less torque. Unfortunately, hard to upgrad these stubby motors...

[xrad]

The tammy JP goes together really well. Parts are easily available for the lower hull from several dealers (Jason's store/ AAF/ Ebay)

You can construct the lower hull fairly inexpensively (compared to the whole JP tammy kit)

The best part is the tensioners. Really well designed, but make sure you buy the correct tammy parts bags otherwise you will be missing some of the parts.

[xrad]

I guess I could have sourced the screws, but at 6$ a bag, it was easier to buy screw bags A-D. Other parts for gun mount cost about 130$ from AAF.

Of course , printed instructions from 'wacky' helped greatly.

Impact 88 mm muzzle brake.

It will have HL electronics.

[Saxondog]

Hey XRAD, the gun mount seems solid, are you using the Tamiya Barrel or a different barrel? I have found the best source for Tamiya barrels is the two ladies at AAF, they have been great and saved me money. Thanks again for the reference, I also got back on my Jagdpanther and added the weld seams, very difficult to do but worth it in the end. Sax

[xrad]

whole upper unit is stock tammy. But i have to say that the HL upper hull actually fits the Tammy lower hull better than Tamiya's own piece!!

[Saxondog]

Hey Xrad I have stripped my JAGDPANTHER and decided to change a few things. But I was thinking that I might try your method of the Tamiya lower hull, That will complete my group of all metal hulled tanks,but my budget is pretty tight these days, I have read both you build post but may well have a few questions, I'm watching this one closely as the other was the inspiration for buying the Jagdpanther and I found where Grossdeutschland Division had some in the last few months of the war,also the reason for wanting a Night Fighter version. Well keep the pictures coming, and I will be watching your progress xrad,cheers Saxondog

[xrad]

you can use HL rear hull piece (on my other JP w/the HL upper deck..this one uses stock tammy parts) with some trimming. I also added Impact metal drive guards up front as these are very nicely made. rest of hull is all tammyparts. Be sure to get the correct bag of parts for rear idler tensioners.

For those of you considering tammy metal hull conversions, I recommend printing off the instructions from Wacky and then carefully finding each part required and its source bag so that you can order the correct stuff.

If you use Asiatam metal wheels, be sure to order the TAMIYA set as the axles are different length from the HL set.

[xrad]

Thanks to Steve at Welsh Dragon! I finally have a complete wheel set for Tammy hull. I was unimpressed with the quality of the new Asiatam tires as the rubber has that distinctly Chinese sweet rubber smell. The rubber is somewhat soft but looks like if left out in the sun for too long, it will degrade.

BUT: the detail is MUCH better than the polyurethane looking older model rubbe (shiny, smooth, featureless) There is very nice wear/rough surfacing and appropriate lettering/numbers. I am not sure if ALL of the panther/JP wheels metal wheels have this rubber, it may be date or manufacturer specific. But I avtually like this set better even though I don;t think they will last foir years.

ALSO: I ordered a set of tammy rubber wheels. The tires for the spaced set of road wheels WILL fit the asiatam metal roadwheels. But you have turn the tire inside out and with a set of sharp scissors, carefully trim the THICKER band by about 1mm. Easy to do and then they fit perfectly. However, the closely paired wheelset will not fit the tammy tires without major work. The tammy rubber is excellent, but also lacks details...

I also added Impact muzzle brake, nice locknut and casting detail, but it came a little out of round...

I really think the Asiatam Motor/wheel/track combo is just great. Awsome detail , function , and overall quality. Just a little pricey..

In fact, I could not pick a favorite between the KT, JP, STUG III, Nashorn or JP #2