Hi Ya'll

[Spinnetti]

New to your site and almost new to tanks (had a Tamyia eons ago) Just got a HL Jagdpanther. At first I was disappointed, but as an engineer, it just gave me lots of opportunities to improve it! I already have a long list after much of it didn't work when I got it. My favorite stuff is WWII Wermacht hardware of all kinds, though this tank is all I have outside of lots of R/C Luftwaffe airplanes I have a little machine shop at home with a CNC mill, so I'll be digging in and making my own hop-ups shortly - right after I finish my fully working He-111 1/13 scale landing gear I've been making over my holiday break..

L8rs,

[Saxondog]

Welcome to the forum, The CNC Mill could be a magnet for parts request? I could use 20 custom barrels?

Cheers Saxondog

[mt 1]

HI there , welcome to the forum

[oldfeller]

Hi Spinnetti
Welcome to the forum , look forward to see'ing you work.
Gerwyn

[[ICE]monkey]

hi and qwelcome aboard
regards, ice

[sparks]

Hi, welcome to the forum

[Spinnetti]

Welcome to the forum, The CNC Mill could be a magnet for parts request? I could use 20 custom barrels?

Cheers Saxondog

I think it would be fun to make tank parts in small batches (bigger runs are booooorrring!)

For a barrel, you need a lathe not a mill. I have a manual lathe, but accurately boring deep holes is difficult, and thick walled tube is expensive (>$10/ft) and hard to get in the desired size.. What barrels are you looking for? If you have drawings dimensioned to scale I can research it. CNC is kind of a waste of time except for making lots of something or something that's really complicated (its expensive to write code for just one part - takes longer than just making it "manually"). CNC isn't any more accurate and there's no short cuts for making a few parts. As an example, I design scale R/C airplane landing gear. Takes about 200hrs to do design, 100hrs to write all the CNC code, debug it and make all the machining notes/instructions/drawings and about 2hrs per set of gear to make/assemble when doing a small run of 10-20 sets ...

Are you familar with R/C model warship combat? I think something similar with tanks would be really cool. Make "combat" upper hulls that are paper thin (or add balsa exoskeleton plates that would register the hits), then go at it with bb guns or pumped up airsoft! - real physics would apply, so you would get glancing hits that don't penetrate etc...


Here's all the stuff I want to do after a cursory inspection (I had to take it apart immediately when I got it as a bunch of stuff didn't work)

Chassis/gearbox flex - A simple "spreader bar" between the top of the two gearboxes would go a long way to stiffen that up. I saw somebody offers a "floor plate" which isn't a bad idea, but it doesn't have the leverage that a bar between the boxes would provide - both would be even better
Switch location - I'm going to move them topside, probably all on one plate in the crew door opening
Chassis - I'm thinking 20ga steel. I want the battery in the hull, not under it (I did this on my old Sherman way back when). I'm half tempted to make an aluminum upper hull from 1/8 plate, cnc out all the main holes, then recycle the HL plastic parts or aftermarket bits for the details, but we'll see. Might save that for just building up a bigger one of my own.
I might redesign the airsoft gun. If the gears are up to it, I'll make a better air chamber (bit bigger around and a bit longer). What about a propane fired one so it makes some noise? (but not to shoot anything). I've seen this done on near, or full sized replica WWI aircraft.
Thinking about making the gun elevation "normal" and adding traverse; stick up to go up, down to go down, left to go left etc.
Move the radio antenna to the proper location
Make eccentric rear hubs with bearings for adjustment I see there are several types out there, but I can just make my own.
Rework the suspension arms and road wheels to reduce play - have to take those apart and investigate options. I see "Asiatam" makes some nice stuff, but I can't find the parts I want at a US dealer so far (metal wheels, gearbox case, metal suspension arms)
I'd like to see the main gun recoil integrated with the timing of the airsoft gun, and the recoil be just back, not back and forwards (track tension should move it forwards a touch after firing).

[Wizzard033]

Welcome to the forum Sir!

[Saxondog]

My bad, thought you had said CHC Lathe. I completely understand the issue as we have been quoted on 20 King Tiger barrels and the cost of a special boring bar because of the length of the barrel.

But with a Mill you could make many parts, you mentioned a US vendor? Phil@ http://rctankwars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or Bob@ http://www.etoarmour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For Tamiya parts Karen or Natasha@ http://www.aaftankmuseum.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; all these vendors are recommended and very reliable.

cheers Saxondog

[Spinnetti]

My bad, thought you had said CHC Lathe. I completely understand the issue as we have been quoted on 20 King Tiger barrels and the cost of a special boring bar because of the length of the barrel.

But with a Mill you could make many parts, you mentioned a US vendor? Phil@ http://rctankwars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or Bob@ http://www.etoarmour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For Tamiya parts Karen or Natasha@ http://www.aaftankmuseum.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; all these vendors are recommended and very reliable.

cheers Saxondog

Thanks for the links, but I didn't see the parts I want. I saw them on the German sites, but not here... Engine cover grilles, metal external gearbox covers, crew heater, hatches etc.. (for the Jagdpanther) and some other misc stuff. does anybody have the full line of asiatam stuff for instance?... I'm real real tempted to mill out a 1/8" aluminum upper hull, but need the details to add on to it.