RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Cut out the turret roof armour tonight. Used 1.2mm brass which works out close enough to the material used in scale.
The roof profile does flatten off a little bit towards the rear and this presents a choice.
Field fittment..............unlikely to have the ability to put a 'set' in the plates where necessary to follow the roof contour.
Factory fitted................every chance the plates would have been 'set' to follow the proper roof line & clear the turret fittings by the minimum.
As Im going with a November '45 build date, and the fact that the machines were vulnerable to attack from above, going to put the set in both plates to reflect this.
Intend on using brass tube to space them correctly by eye, and dress making pins to secure them into the turret roof.

Thinking of mounting a KT headlight in the centre of the glacis, like a KT had. I reckon the one mounted on the front left mudguard would have been prone to travel destruction a lot more than one on the front armour, and this would lend itself to standardisation throughout different build models.
Taking it a step further, a Notek style hooded light would seem to be more appropriate for a night fighting machine
Im sure the I.R. hardware had very finite lifespans , so no need to wear them out unnecessarily when a Notek would provide effective driving illumination plus reduce the glare upwards.
Again, all pie-in -the-sky theory, but could be considered given the later build date & possible Eastern combat theatre

Loving it Herman

Got the first lot of correct roof armour plate mounts in place.
1.5mm holes, soldered the tubes, cleaned out with a 1mm drill once set.
Bottom plate set up to just clear the loaders periscope & thats it.
Approx 5mm off the turret roof in height.
Now to match the top plate with all the tubes & holes to match .........

Herman,
Good Morning. It's looking sweet! What tool did you use to achieve the smooth cut curve that fits round the cupola's curvature?
regards,
Painless

Big wow on this one, great Reading , thanks for sharing

PainlessWolf wrote:Herman,
Good Morning. It's looking sweet! What tool did you use to achieve the smooth cut curve that fits round the cupola's curvature?
regards,
Painless

G'day Mr Painless
Used a hole saw on a cordless drill to get almost finished diameter, then once the shape was cut out, used the "Drem-obi" to whizz the rest down to the line. Handy to use the cardboard templates to get the things pretty close to each other as far as by eye consitencey.
All final sizing was done with the good ole fashioned files......half round & flat.
Honestly its the spacer tubes that are the real pain. 6@5mm, 6@ 3mm long, its 2mm OD tube so when cut so short its real hard to hold & dress etc.

maxmekker wrote:Big wow on this one, great Reading , thanks for sharing

Thanks Mr Mekker, I've bitten off a big enough chunk with this build that I feel like a Python thats eaten an elephant
Just so much to consider and get right at the right time so as not to interfere with the next section.
I truely don't know how guys like Mr Fyn and Mr Wobbly, Mr Chris etc etc cope with the relentless scratch building and remain lucid

Pushed on with the turret roof anti aircraft armour tonight.
This bit is proving to be more than it looks.
Primed all the sheets underneath so I dont get the glow of raw brass
Used Tamiya masking tape to put spots on each position so my glue would take without drama.
Primer dry-tape spots of.
Secured the upper plate to the lower using the dress making pins to align the matching mounting holes in the lower
Once the super glue had set, I trimmed the pins off to about 2mm proud of the mounting tubes.
Placing the whole assembly on the turret & wiggling it a bit, managed to leave trace marks where the contact points were.
Scraped back the paint etc from the surface & drilled a shallow hollow in each spot with a 4mm drill.
Filled each mark with super glue & placed the assembly back.
Had a real short time to 'adjust' the plates position before the glue took, but I think I got it.

Began on the engine deck armour. Used brass flat joined corner to corner & super glued so I can use gap filler for welds.
Got the forward armour to make behind the turret with rotation cut outs of course.
Crew heater housing and right cooling fan armour also to be done.
Mesh debris screens will go on shortly the the armoured boxes can be secured once pre-primed.
Once all the brass is done I can do the welds & get the light first coat of primer on the hull.

I was really tossing up whether or not to do these armour additions like the King Tiger(single plates & tubes) or like the historic pictures(raised boxes) on the engine deck. Really comes down to how it looks. The Panther hull with the steel wheels is like a 'mini-King Tiger' sort of.
Having just done one, I leaned towards the more historical version for the Panther/Jagdpanther, using the raised box armour.
All these brass bits are gradually adding to the weight !
Got a 5000mah battery as well.

Carried on with the engine deck armour.
Made cardboard templates for the top sections of the assemblies behind the turret & trimmed them back until the turret cleared through 180 degrees.
Cut the brass & CA'd them together.
As I do before securing to the deck, gave the lot another test run.
had an Oh -##@* moment
Sure, the turret rotates all the way around, with hanging track links fitted.............no problem
BUT, when the barrel is depressed all the way, the damn "Travolta Chin" mantlet hangs up on them
Did the cool off walk & set about the correction.
Rotated the turret with the barrel all the way down past the grilles in question. Measured the gap(like I already should have) under the chin to the deck - 7mm will clear.
Removed the now cured joint & changed the material accordingly.
New assemblies are 7mm high.


Fan plates now to do.