RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Well my first post was going to be about my HL Panther G that I have been working on at a snails pace but instead I’ll start with my latest purchase.... this pretty sorry looking HL Jadgpanther. Mine for the grand sum of £20! Looks to have all the electronics under the hood but not controller.
Tracks and wheels I have left over from my Panther project so that’s a positive.
First thing is to strip the bodywork down and give it a coat of primer. Then I can see the bodywork better. I’ve been following Soeren superb build of his JP so I shall be reading through that again too.
I really am a very slow modeller not having made a kit since my early teens. I’m no craftsman in this department so please be kind.
I am a huge fan of tanks and have a good collection of books for reference even if - as in the case of my Panther- I don’t always keep things historically correct(camo wise).
Anyway here is the Jagdpanther straight out of the bag, as I’ve just bought it this afternoon.

Wow, great price, but definitely needs some TLC.

I'm guessing you like a challenge Mr sinj.

A challenge is right. Looking at the standards of work on here I think I’ll post photos of mine in the dark! It’s the mud effect that’s the challenge on this. Do I work around it or try and take it off?

Depends if you like it or not.
Especially as it's your model.

Now young man, lecture time. Forget how others do their builds, for every single top notch modeller, there is at least a hundred wishing they were better at what they do themselves, but still enjoy the hobby, and do better at it than they realise.

And this isn't the place/forum to have doubts or worry about your abilities

Son of a gun-ner wrote:Depends if you like it or not.
Especially as it's your model.

Now young man, lecture time. Forget how others do their builds, for every single top notch modeller, there is at least a hundred wishing they were better at what they do themselves, but still enjoy the hobby, and do better at it than they realise.

And this isn't the place/forum to have doubts or worry about your abilities

Well said

I am definitely one of the hundred - but I still enjoy my tinkering/upgrading and fiddling. I have also come to reaslise that although my Challenger 2 is not historically/technically correct I still get a great sense of sattisfaction out of it

Hahaha thank you. I’m liking the young man part.
Of course your totally right. It’s about the passion and the learning. We can always learn and improve.
Ref the mud effect, I guess I’d rather it not be there, well on the upper body at least. Will look for ways to take it off if it’s possible I’ll see where this project takes me.
My Panther now has a metal chassis, wheels and tracks so I’ve some ‘spares’ I can use for The running gear. I’ll start looking on line too for tools and exhausts. Half the fun is in the research.

Black Knight you’ve summed it up. That’s how I feel about it.

I don't imagine it will be too hard to remove that ghastly 'mud' effect, and I think it does need to go. It looks as if the JP has been wading through waist-high crunchy peanut butter. After that, and a good rub down (the tank not you ) , you can look forward to choosing any camo pattern that catches your fancy. There's no need to make it over-elaborate either. Whatever you do, the main driver here is to enjoy yourself.
£20? Dirt cheap- or cheap dirt? A bargain, anyway.

43rdRecceReg wrote:I don't imagine it will be too hard to remove that ghastly 'mud' effect, and I think it does need to go. It looks as if the JP has been wading through waist-high crunchy peanut butter. After that, and a good rub down (the tank not you ) , you can look forward to choosing any camo pattern that catches your fancy. There's no need to make it over-elaborate either. Whatever you do, the main driver here is to enjoy yourself.
£20? Dirt cheap- or cheap dirt? A bargain, anyway.

Thank you I have to agree. The more I’ve been looking at it tonight the more I’m thinking it’s definitely going!

Today I’ve made a start on looking at what needs doing. Taking off what I need and what is serviceable. Obviously I’ve jumped the gun a bit and ordered a bucket- it’s a prerequisite- etched engine grills and also axel support bearings for my Panther(I need to start a post on that too ). All parts so far have been ordered from Forgebear whom I’ve found to be fast and very helpful with a question about a product.
The upper body now has essentially been stripped with only the gun hanging. Not sure why the previous owner had to cut up the gun surround but that’ll need to be repaired. I’ll use the JP at The Tank museum as a reference and photos I’ve taken of the running JP of the Weald Foundation as well as books that I have.
I mentioned previously that my Panther has a metal lower hull and wheels but it’s also just sunk in that I have a perfect lower hull and wheels. I’ll transpose the electronics over at a later date but I can shelve cleaning this ‘mud’ off and salvaging this hull. Phew. Leaves me with upper bodywork to deal with now.
Camo is effective against the carpet however!