New Panther

[mickyb]

Hi Folks,

Well I got my new Panther from Dave (Forgebear) a week ago and have been driving the rabbits and missus mad with it until today. I decided to take the lid off and check how it had been put together so I took a foto for you all to check out.

Strange that HL decided to put the speaker up front and use double sided carpet tape to hold it in place. The wiring is so much better than my first HL purchase a year ago I bought a Tiger and only had to move a wire and it detached itself. I spent so much time re soldering everything that I installed ElMod.

The suspension is far too soft at the front and needs winding up a bit, but generally it is well worth the money and is by far the best put together HL tank I have bought to date.

The tri colour paintwork is a bit suspect, but HL have used green plastic so they only had to paint the sand and brown colours.

I have just bought myself a new Badger 155 Anthem airbrush so I cant wait to rip this apart and try my best with some new colours.

If anyone wants any fotos let me know quickly before it ends up as a pile of bits tomorrow evening.

Mike

[STEINER]

Hi Mike

Thanks for posting the interior shot of your new Panther. Is your version the BB or Ir. If its the ir does it come with a barrel recoil unit fitted.

Cheers.

STEINER

[mickyb]

Hi Steiner,
this model is the IR version, it comes complete with recoil and IR module that plugs into the cupola inside the commander's hatch, it is ready to do battle with other HL IR tanks.

As you may have read, the recoil is a bit wierd. When you "fire" the main gun, the barrel is driven back relatively slowly by a small motor on the recoil unit, when the barrel is fully back the muzzle flash operates then the barrel snaps forward to fully extended again. A few of us are looking at altering this to be more realistic....someone has done the mod already but it takes courage to take tools to your new tank doesn't it.

Forgebear has spare recoil units that are for the Stug, they will go into the Tiger as well we believe. They look the same as the one on this Panther.

Wont be long before someone posts a simple fix I bet...

Mike

[Saxondog]

Hey Mike,were the tracks an issue with splitting the hull? And how many screws hold top to bottom? Sax

[mickyb]

Hi Sax,

No problem splitting the hull, 7 screws throught the hull, as usual, and into mouldings in the upper part...as usual.

This time it comes apart like the Stug not like the Tiger, the top comes away cleanly without removing any body parts. Loads of room in the hull as you can see, I recon ElMod will rattle about in it. Unlike my ElMod Tiger where I needed a crowbar and vaseline to get it all in.

I think I will leave this one mainly standard build. I will stiffen the suspension springs, paint it, mod the recoil system if poss and thats it because this one is a real good model in my opinion. The casting/moulding on mine is superb so if the Sherman is anthing like this build, HL wont be able to make enough of them.

Hope that helps...Mike

[Saxondog]

Thanks Mike,that does help.I will not see my Panther until Christmas Day but have just gotten a Jagdpanther for my b-day three weeks ago,have not opened it yet but it seems to be able to open without removing the tracks as well.Blake

[mcevoyi]

hi all the speekerd taped down as the hull top plate .. to the bat box is too narrow so the speaker will not fit ... i wounder if thats why i am getting feedback /

will post pics soon of some work i have done on my panther g

iain

[STEINER]

Does the New panther come with a 3.1 gearbox, hi torque motor set up or just the standard metal gears ?

[mickyb]

Hi Steiner,

the gearbox and motor combo is the old standard gearboxes with the old white cap motors on them. The tank moves pretty good on the carpet at a nice pace but I cant say what it is like on a slope, I haven't taken it over the forrest yet cos it hasn't stopped raining here.
The speaker does pick up a bit of motor whine, but as it is up front you can't hear it properly because the sound doesn't get to the grilles easily as you can see. First job is to cut out the internal supports, dump the smoker and move the speaker mounting to the rear under the grilles. Also I need to alter the suspension spring tension.
Would you like a cloe up foto of the hull????

Mike

[STEINER]

Mike, Thanks for that. Yes more pics please.as many as you like, Can you include one of the rear of the Hull.

Cheers