PANTHER 111, 116TH WINDHUND Dv, HOUFFALIZE 1944

[Jnewboy]

This is going to look great!!!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Whew! The hatch looks like H E double Sticks and then you cleaned it all up smoothly. I would be going berzerk with fear of disaster.

[Raminator]

Heng Long plastic is bloody tough !

Maybe if the real Panthers were made out of it, the Germans could have won the war.

I assume it's some flavour of ABS, it's a pain to work with but you can't argue with its strength and rigidity. The thing that annoys me the most about it is how it seems to melt when you apply power tools.

[HERMAN BIX]

Heng Long plastic is bloody tough !

Maybe if the real Panthers were made out of it, the Germans could have won the war.

I assume it's some flavour of ABS, it's a pain to work with but you can't argue with its strength and rigidity. The thing that annoys me the most about it is how it seems to melt when you apply power tools.

You're right about the melting bit mate, and it clogs the abrasive you use real quick.
I notice on this one that the paint used is also different from previous H/L tanks I've hooked into.
Using a sanding tool melted the paint rather than removing it like a powder, identical to the SU152 I did recently. It seems to be an enamel.

[John Glover]

Hi Herman, the package i have sent you has a set of Ludwigs brass exhaust shields and a Schumo replacement intake vent for where the crew heater goes along with some other parts. Want to see that Tamiya King Tiger going. You should not have a problem with the stock idler set up any more with help from my package. Regards John Glover

[HERMAN BIX]

You guys know the old "Be careful what you wish for-you just might get it ?"............................
Two words..............Voyager P/E

I thought I would take a shot at replacing the sturdy if inaccurate H/L stuff off the sides & replace them with $23 Voyager P/E for Tamiya stuff
And as an extra 'what the hell-why not' moment, got a set of stowage bins as well..............

Weeeellll I can say that looking at the golden haze of tiny objects in the packets, with no way of holding or folding them, the aroma of poop is quite profound
Now I got em, I dont know what to do with em

[lmcq11]

What ? Do I hear a challenge ? Afraid of a new experience ? Or some lack of faith ?

First, get yourself some tools for it, like the Xuron tweezer nose, cutters, bending pliers... and put two pairs of glasses.

Then you start with the bigger PE parts, the high value ones, the easiest and then get to the smaller ones after, or ignore them I personally use superglue because I need the fast bond and do not like to play with anything more toxic but this board has many experienced builders with tons of advice for you.

[Tiger6]

You're right about the melting bit mate, and it clogs the abrasive you use real quick.
I notice on this one that the paint used is also different from previous H/L tanks I've hooked into.
Using a sanding tool melted the paint rather than removing it like a powder, identical to the SU152 I did recently. It seems to be an enamel.

The trick to working with HL ABS is to use a Dremel (or similar) with the dedicated Dremel plastic cutting disks (sides aren't as smooth so they don't clog as easily) rather than the standard ones intended for metal, and the Dremel cutter bits for gouging out bigger chunks - the tiny ball nosed cutters still clog easily, but the tapered and cylindrical ones are great for shaving off unwanted parts. The pieces coming off are still scalding hot tho, so some protection of exposed skin and eyes is a good idea, but you all knew that anyway...

[HERMAN BIX]

What ? Do I hear a challenge ? Afraid of a new experience ? Or some lack of faith ?

First, get yourself some tools for it, like the Xuron tweezer nose, cutters, bending pliers... and put two pairs of glasses.

Then you start with the bigger PE parts, the high value ones, the easiest and then get to the smaller ones after, or ignore them I personally use superglue because I need the fast bond and do not like to play with anything more toxic but this board has many experienced builders with tons of advice for you.

Get tools is a must. I was going to do the folds with a couple of steel rulers, as I'm not a fuss-pot for crispness.
The rest of the microscopic objects will need some type of tooling that I do not have small enough.
Still, once I have the stuff, and if this lot works out near enough, I've got it for next time eh.

[PainlessWolf]

Herman!
Get yourself a pair of the Tamiya Folding Pliers ( small ) and a good ( comfortable ) set of magnifying glasses, preferably with swap out lenses for different strengths of magnification. I use those and a Tensor lamp with a giant, light up magnifying lens on it. Super Glue for the tiny pieces as Louis noted. You will be Mr. PE in no time!
regards,
Painless