PANTHER G ZU-FUSS

[HERMAN BIX]

Plugged up all the hull penetrations with spare styrene & super glued them on the inside of the hull. Bunged on the putty to excess so I can 'smooth' the hull sides out.
Intention is to mount any tools etc as per late jagdpanthers by using the engine deck & rear plate. This will also allow more room for the rocket mounts.
Used the razor saw to cut the thicknessing washers off the wrong side of the tow eyes ready to reinstate them on to the correct side. These should be on the inside of the sponson ears as seen from the front.
Gear boxes are out, to be replaced by the black steel set I already have.
I am looking to remove the vertical swirl exhaust diffusers & replace them with Jagd Panther elbow types. The clear tubes that feed the smoker unit from the fill points in the diffusers will also have to go to make way for the correct brackets, not sure how they will reposition, so may indeed have to tamper with the engine deck if I want to be able to fill the smoker at all.
The right side stowage box will be remodeled into a storage box for the Vampir gear IF/when I get them.

Plenty to do

[HERMAN BIX]

Tell ya what mate I will be real proud of myself if I can out do that .............
Bloody brilliant work.

I see its been a while but where did you get the late drive sprocket and KT transport tracks from ?
If they are still available I could correct the ones on my Octopuss Tiger, even though the wide ones look much better.

[HERMAN BIX]

After checking out the transport tracks & sprockets, I will just have to wait !!
Its just after xmas & I have 8-million kids..

Been pretty slow here just now, but some progress.

Got the 'racing-red' electric Hi-Torque motors in. Very tight on space, but they fitted. A real b'arch getting the last engine mount screw in under the left side motor, but its in - (dont ask)
The 4:1 gear sets should do the trick to lower the speed & turns down to a more realistic level.

Reinstated the tow point thicknessing rings to the correct side of the sponson protrusions by lining them up with a round file & sliding them down into place.

Secured the lifting hooks into the correct orientation on the engine deck, and relocated the engine access cover stop into the right spot in line with the rearmost hinge.
Removed the OEM aerial fitting ready to relocate into the correct spot. Filled the cavity & flattened it off.
Still have both sets of three lifitng hooks on each vent cover to make & place, plus the cross bars on the intake behind the central engine cover to do.
Cut the front guards off - just because, and looked to place the reversing track stop rollers on the final drive covers.
These things are a bit of a pain. Not sure just where to put them until the tracks are really at running tension.
Period drawings sure would help for the Steel Wheeled Panther to get this bit right.

[HERMAN BIX]

This is what I'm aiming for by the way.

[edpanzer]

Looking good Mr bix love it so far

[jeff1101]

Hi Hermann,

The rollers on the final drive housing weren't meant to touch the tracks if they are in correct tension. The only time they would touch is when there is excessive slack such as when the tank is reversing so don't worry if you inadvertently place them too low.

I think putting them at the tip of the the triangular part of the final drive housing would be a safe bet. It would be a bit low (compare to the real panthers) but then you wont run the risk of getting them snagged by the tracks when running.



regards
Jeffrey

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on this one. It's a new one to me!

Re the strange side brackets on the Littlefield Panther and some Tiger 1 there's a thread here:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 7&t=136574

And that includes this pic:

Strange side brackets on a Tiger 1.jpg (19.17 KiB) Viewed 3452 times

Someone suggests spaced armour mounts, which seems plausible to me...

[HERMAN BIX]

Hi Hermann,

The rollers on the final drive housing weren't meant to touch the tracks if they are in correct tension. The only time they would touch is when there is excessive slack such as when the tank is reversing so don't worry if you inadvertently place them too low.

I think putting them at the tip of the the triangular part of the final drive housing would be a safe bet. It would be a bit low (compare to the real panthers) but then you wont run the risk of getting them snagged by the tracks when running.



regards
Jeffrey

Thanks Mr Jeff

Getting the balance between the diameter and position of the roller and the moulding of what I believe to be the track pin return striker is only an issue due to the smaller diameter of the steel wheels when compared to the normal running gear.
The heavy steel tracks im running will catch for sure on the H/L moulding if the tension is correct.
Could be that for simplicity I will remove the moulding. In behind the tracks, wheels & side skirts it will not be missed.
Diameter wise, could I get away with a return roller off a Pz III ?

[jeff1101]

Hi Herman,

That HL moulding is actually the bump stop for the first swing arm. (There's another bump stop moulding after that with 2 stoppers for the 2nd swing arm). Heng Long had placed it incorrectly in that it is way too high.

And you are correct, when running the metal tracks it would hit that little moulding since HL placed it incorrectly.

I encountered the same problem so I had to relocate it to the correct position.

See Updates 12/27 - Correcting HL sprocket height and lower hull details
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8956&start=180




See Updates 7/26/2013 - Detailing the Lower Hull - cont'd
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8956&start=260





regards
Jeffrey

[HERMAN BIX]

Great pics Mr Jeff
The forward bump stop seems to have the track pin striker plate on top of it.
Its this bit that catches the tracks with the lower diameter wheels.

I will certainly carry out the lowering of the moulding & see how it goes with the dummy run on the tracks.

Good onya mate, , really appreciate the heads up on the bump stop moulding height.