Jadgpanther mods

[MassiveOverkill]

Did some mods to my Jagdpanther. Sorry guys, no realistic weathering or fancy stuff like that, just trying

to beef up for longevity:

Added fuses to the positive input of the RX as well as each motor.

I also relocated the switches and volume control to the backside, using the plethora of computer 5-1/4'

computer bay covers I have:



Also relocated the antenna, which was easier than I thought. I cut off a screw head for the mounting post

and soldered the antenna lead as well as the whip to it:



Relocated the Crystal board:



Sine my first RX18 blew in a matter of an hour, I wanted to make sure this puppy didn't fry again, that's a

25mm thick fan:






Added mesh to the underside to help keep bigger debris out:






Custom smoker using original heating element installed in a Radio Shack hobby box as well as a larger

speaker:



One thing no one mentions in making custom smokers is that more fan speed is not necessarily better. I'll

probably work on adding a variable fan controller later to fine tune the fan speed.

Probably my favorite mod so far is my cheap ball-bearing mod. Roller blade ball bearings fit the output

shafts perfectly, as well as mate to the dust cover very nicely. I bought some assorted springs and chose

two stacked per side that barely put enough pressure agains the bearing so the bearing sits against the

outer part of the dust housing. With this mod, I noticed that my slipper clutch engages WAAAy less and that

all the strain from running is transferred to that bearing, leaving the gears and gear housing less-

stressed. An added benefit is the bearings help keep dirt out the chasis.


You can pick up a full set of 8 roller bearings for probably under 15 bucks (that's including the roller

blade wheels as well) and there's no need to find a hobby shop:



First thing you have to do is take the commander-side dust housing and remove the bump that prevents the

bearing from seating properly. I just used a sharp knife along with a philips screwdriver and the

scraped/sculpted the plastic so it matches the curve of the rest of the housing.

Left is the a housing with nub in place, right is with it removed.

Plastic bump circled:



Like it was meant to be:





Here are both springs on the shaft:



First spring is pushed inside the chasis:



Second spring is then butt up against the first:



Next slide on the roller blade ball bearing:



View from font:



And here's how it looks with the dust cover reinstalled:



I also removed 1 track link and added a washer to the rear idler to help prevent the track from jumping.

Finally, I didn't take pictures, but the nylong shaft on the gear that engages the slipper (not the gear the
slipper clutch is on, the middle gear) is too long. This is true on both sides, so it needs to be filed
down so that when the housing is tightened, the gears don't bind (and prevent you from having to use washers on the tubular braces).

Hope you like. Next mod is installing my Rovio camera board, (verified that the IR plug powers the board)

and then maybe some steel gears and tracks.

[Saxondog]

The bearing is a great idea,where can I buy them? As for the smokers, they are difficult to make but once it is working properly they do add a nice effect.

Jagdpanther with Super Smoker Installed

[MassiveOverkill]

Thanks, you can buy them a just about any sporting good store. I know The Sports Authority carries them. This is the cheapest set online at TSA: http://www.sportsauthority.com/product/ ... age=family" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd check the Brick and Mortar first though.

Here's another online for 14 bucks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 602_304652" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure some members/clubs could get together and split costs as you only need 2 (maybe 4 for spares).

[Saxondog]

Thanks for the information,look forward to seeing your Jagdpanther evolve. Seems your off to a great start, and hope you will enjoy the forum. Thanks for sharing your mods, Saxondog

[General Jumbo]

Me and my son skateboard and we have loads of these bearings and two new ones will be installed in my tank this morning-great idea,thanks!

[MassiveOverkill]

Glad to help guys. Jumbo, anxious to see your results after it's done. The bearing mod should also work for Panthers as it should be the same chasis, but I'm not sure what other tanks use the same dust housing. BTW, I've tried different variations of this mod and the spring pushing the bearing against the outer housing seems to produce the least amount of binding. I've tried doubling-up the bearings with only one spring in place as well as using stronger springs...........you only want enough spring tension to gently push the bearing against the outer housing. You want to test binding with the motors out to get an accurate feel.

One thing I haven't tried is removing the stock nylon bushing on the outer brace housing, but it seems there's enough slop that it doesn't cause a problem.

I can't remember where I got my assorted spring set, but it had to have been either Lowes, Scotty's or Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight has a 200 piece set: http://www.harborfreight.com/200-piece- ... 67562.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; that you can probably pick up in store.

I just checked and I have the Century Springs #1 assortment.

[Tanker Mike]

[quote="MassiveOverkill"]Did some mods to my Jagdpanther. Sorry guys, no realistic weathering or fancy stuff like that, just trying

to beef up for longevity:

Added mesh to the underside to help keep bigger debris out:




Shouldn't the mesh be on top of the grills? Or are you planning to add that later and have a double set?

Cheers,
Mike

[MassiveOverkill]

To be accurate, yes it should be topside, which I may do later, but that's going to require finer-detailing skills. I just wanted to get some something on there quickly, which I was able to do by slapping on some hot glue. My GF is already regretting buying me this tank for my BD, so I gotta keep time working on it to a minimum.

[MassiveOverkill]

OK here's my rear-idler mod. Some of you have noticed by now that the wheels are screwed on with self-tapping screwes, not

pressed in. The rear idler can be unscrewed using a small enough philips screw driver.

You can split the idler to do this mod, but I chose to just drill the hub out using progressively larger drill bits and will

cap it off later with the same caps that are used on the other wheels. You have to drill it out in any case the securing

screw ever comes undone.

You also have to drill out the stock mounting hole to accommodate the new shaft that the idler wheel is going to ride on.

The new shaft was obtained............from the stock chrome braces for the gear boxes. It's no ball bearing, but the surface

is much harder than the crappy self-tapping screw used and the brass idler bearing rides on it much better, which I'm

predicting will produce less detracking. Now I don't have a drill press, and I was enlarging the stock hole, which

consequently is tapped at a bad angle by the $5/hour assembly workers. Don't worry about the sloppiness of the hole, as

that's going to be take care of by our new torsion-bar system

Onto the pictorial:

Here is the hardware needed per each idler wheel:



One long screw, a short and long nut, small washer to brace inside chasis (must be small-enough to clear rear plate), two

larger washers, the inner diameter is the size of the idler shaft...these will act as thrust bearings between the chasis and

idler wheel, your new idler shaft stolen from a stock gearbox brace, your drilled-out idler, two small washers to act as

thrust bearings between the new shaft and the final securing screw. The threads on all these are the same fine threads used

in computer case screws, which I have a ton of.

Here's how they will look put together outside the chasis:



Loosely mounted in chasis:



Everything tightened up:



You first tighten the outside retaing screw that holds the idler on, you then have to do some trial and error tightening of

the long nut to take just enough slack out so the idler spins freely, but isn't too sloppy. When you get it right, lock it

in place with the small nut.

Here's how it looks installed:



The first part of the 'torsion bar' system is just some clear tubing I had, cut to fit and placed over each end:



I then placed a spring over the clear tubing (actually they installed at the same time) to add a little more torsion:



The idea is to let the idler move around off-plane, but self-center with the tension created by the torsion-system.

You must cut off the vertical support for the bottom brace for the rear plate to make room for the rear-idler torsion bar

assembly:



Cap the hole off with a the same cap used on the other wheels:



I've only ran her inside so far with this mod, but weather-permitting, I'll see if I can throw a track tommorrow. She runs

alot faster/smoother for sure.

[[ICE]monkey]

nice mod with the idler,