Heng Long Jagdpanther - first tank

[ausf]

ausf, Have you made any 1/16 tank crews?

I wouldn't be surprised to find some sets available this year.

Especially StuG riders (except they won't be Finnish).

[nochin98]

Did a bit of work to the tank tonight. Finally some spare time! Saw elsewhere on this forum the idea of using Rare Earth Magnets instead of screws to hold the upper and lower hulls in place. Picked some up and installed them, what a great idea, they work to hold the hulls secure, yet allow easy access to the inside.

Wanted to move the switches from under the tank. I've seen some builds where people have taken the top off the rear stowage boxes, attached hinges and then installed the switches. Well...my skills are not up to that challenge, so I opted for another route. Removed the stowage box from one side of the tank (carefully) and used those handy magnets again. One on the hull, the other inside the stowage box and voila, one removable stowage box. Then cut out a hole for the power switch and installed. Worked out quite well, plus didn't have to mess around with anything people can see on the exterior of the tank.

Just have to rinse and repeat on the other side for the volume and smoker switches.

Magnet attached to the hull with some superglue

Magnet inside the stowage box

magnet_inside.jpg (68.11 KiB) Viewed 3275 times

Power switch nearly installed

rear_on_off.jpg (90.28 KiB) Viewed 3275 times

[Red Devils]

Sweet idea with the magnet, I was thinking of the same thing for my Tiger 1 engine hatch. Don't mind me asking but where did you find them? Thanks.

Derek

[nochin98]

Don't mind at all; got them at Lee Valley Tools. Picked up the 50 piece sampler, which has all kinds of sizes. Link to the item is below. They're crazy strong, quite happy with the way they worked out.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... 42348&ap=1

Cheers,

Mike

[Red Devils]

Thanks Mike,

I'll have to get mt father, who lives in Ottawa to get me some. Nothing like that out here in New Brunswick. Thanks again.

Derek

[nochin98]

Started playing around with zimmerit. Couldn't get a pattern that I could say I really liked, with the supplies I had on-hand. So did some research and decided to move away from the pattern I was doing and instead zim this jagd up with the square pattern.

First I applied a layer of Apoxie Sculpt, and smoothed it out to get a more consistent thickness.

Applied Apoxie

applied apoxie.jpg (61.42 KiB) Viewed 3229 times

Using the backside of an Exacto knife blade I made the squares.

Square pattern

square pattern.jpg (59.31 KiB) Viewed 3229 times

Then let it set for a couple of minutes and began chipping away at the zim to simulate some wear and tear.

Some damage

chipped away.jpg (67.5 KiB) Viewed 3229 times

Hull together

with hull together.jpg (58.66 KiB) Viewed 3229 times

I must say I'm happier with this look and how it turned out. Think I've definitely found the way I'm doing the zim on this tank.

Cheers.

[Red Devils]

Looks great Mike, going to have to see if the Leading Edge hobby in Kingston has some Apoxie Sculpt along with other modeling supplies that I need. Keep those pics of your project coming. Later dude.

Derek

[nochin98]

Thanks Derek, hope you can find what you need.

The wife's a Guide leader and she had a party tonight for a bunch of the other leaders...so...once the kiddies were in bed off to the basement I ran!

Decided to bite the bullet and tackle zimmeriting (I know, not a word) the front of the tank. Took my time, just over an hour. Happy with the result. Again, hand applied, then smoothed the Apoxie Scuplt, then got to work with adding the detail and some worn away areas. I like the result, is it perfect? Nope. But that's OK.

First image is the work I just completed on the front of the tank.

A close-up of the square zimmerit pattern.

Finally with the top and bottom hulls (bottom was done earlier today) together, they look not too bad. Does look kinda stark, but I'm sure it'll look much better once I get around to painting it.

top and bottom hulls together.jpg (71.63 KiB) Viewed 3212 times

Probably will try to tackle one of the sides tomorrow, time permitting of course.

Not only is this fun, but a little therapeutic!

Cheers.

[maxmekker]

this is going to be nice, keep those pic's comming man.

[nochin98]

Had some time while the kiddies were napping, retreated back to the basement. The zimmerit-fest continues.

Tackled one of the sides including the 'skirt' just above the wheels, and the ball mg.

skirt.jpg (78.92 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

side.jpg (75.36 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

side2.jpg (86.19 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

ball_mg.jpg (79.15 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

And here's the tank so far with the front, and one side completed. I really like how it's turning out.

so far.jpg (94.64 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

In my earlier post I neglected to attach the photo of the on-off switch installed under the rear stowage bin.

rear_on_off_installed.jpg (67.49 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

Cheers!