Hi guys. I have been working on my 1/6th scale jagdpanther kit for about a week now and I have made some progress. The model is a metal kit from Battle Ready Armor. To assemble the Tank’s metal panels I soldered them all together. The tank’s metal solders well and made a strong bond. The Solder also filled in the gaps between the metal folds that these BRA models have after they are bent into shape. These weld beads were then ground down flush.
To make the model’s hull more sturdy and rugged I constructed an Aluminum Frame. The frame also supports the tank’s working suspension.
I also created the torsion bar details. I’ll be adding these components and other suspension components to the product line shortly
I have filled in all of the hollow road wheel tires with resin to make the road wheel tires solid and giving the wheels more mass.
I remember seeing a few (yes a few) of these 1/6 scale vehicles at a Multiperiod reenactors bash a couple of years ago. The tigers and panzers looked awesome. The owner said if I could pick one up I could have it. Mind you it did weigh in at near enough half a hundred weight. He said it normally takes 6 of them to man handle them into the truck for transport. And yes I did have a go at picking one up - just to make sure they reaaly were that heavy. They did a mini display with them. Running them up in formation and giving a firing demonstration - not sure what was being fired though but it made a good amount of smoke and noise.
Doog, its a Rc tank. I’ll paraphrase someone from another forum that builds these things ‘RC tanks are the only models I don’t weather, I let nature do it for me.’ You dont display the RC tanks, you chase the neighbor’s dog withem.
This model is a kit. The hull is made out of laser cut sheet metal. When you first start the model the whole tank resembles a flat piece of photo etch, that needs to be bent and into shape. After I bent the hull into shape I secured the model’s seams with solder. The kit wants you to pop rivet the tank’s panels into place. The kit also comes with some basic resin components and a set of ABS plastic wheels and track.
At this time I’m not sure on what markings or cammo I will be installing on this tank. I usually have an idea in mind when the tank is almost ready for painting. The tank is going to be built as a late production Jagdpanther, so that gives me a starting point for paint and markings.
Typically my static 1/6th models weigh from 40lbs to 80lbs. My two RC Armortek tanks weigh between 200lbs to 300lbs. When finished this tank will be much lighter in weight than the armortek version, it will probably weigh about 70lbs at most.
So you went the extra mile and got the R/C version. Just exactly what do they suggest to drive and power this heavy vehicle? I mean, do they offer these units or are they something you must search and provide yourself?
Can you show the pieces that make it different from the static version, which only has resin where it needs to be metal.
I might as a change of pace from my 1/16th R/C projects get one of these but would like to know a little more than the basics like cost. Also, I’d have to clear off my whole work bench for this and have a storage area too … all in a 9’X11’ room.
And thanks for sharing! Pretty big project I have to say.
These kits come static only. The working suspension and the rest of the RC conversions are my own design. In order to hold up the tank’s weight I designed the torsion bars as one steel formed Piece. The resin detail block that you see is a jacket and is for looks. The kit comes with laser cut metal drive sprockets that need to be assembled. The tank’s rear idler wheels are cast resin and don’t seam to be fragile for RC, but I’ll know shortly. For the tanks power I found two 12volt electric right angle drive motors on the web. I’ll have more info on my progress shortly.
I tried contacting the guy that makes these ( I want 2 of them JP & JT ) to no avail. I e-mailed him about a month ago. Never heard from him, long story short would you mine telling me how much they cost? and does he supply a metal ( alum ) barrel, and did you say the tracks are resin?
The Model’s Tracks are not Resin, but are ABS Plastic. The tank doesn’t come with an aluminum gun Barrel, but several lengths of PVC pipe and a resin gun muzzle.
I have been working on the kit’s supplied final drive transmission hubs, and small return roller. I removed all of the molded in bolt head details and will be using real fasteners to install the hubs when ready.
When altering the return roller I rounded off the sharp edges on the tire and I replaced the molded bolt details with fasteners. The roller was installed on the final drive with lubricated Aluminum Bushings to allow the roller to spin very smoothly and centered.
Before I started to work on the road wheels I have filled in all of the hollow road wheel tires with resin to make the road wheel tires solid and giving the wheels more mass
I completed mounting the wheels and machining new Road Wheel bearing / axels for the wheels. The Bearings are designed to allow the wheel to spin freely yet it will secure the wheel to the 1/4 inch steel axel and will prevent the wheel from coming off of the tank while in motion, or a turn. The axels come pre assembled and machined; I have also added them to my product line.
That REALLY looks impressive,been following this one and can’t wait to see it finished.One question,the sheet metal looks kind of smooth in the pictures,will you have to put some texture on the surface to avoid a smooth finish,or is that the way it should look ??
Due to the sheet metal, the tank’s surface is quite smooth. After visiting the real jagdpanther at Aberdeen, I have seen that the tank’s surface is not as smooth as the model’s. I will be added on a texture later in the tank’s construction
I have made some progress on the tank during the week.
To hold up the added weight of the tank’s Batteries and other RC equipment, I added two more rows of springs to the suspension.
I have installed the tank’s motors and final drive transmission mounts. The Motors that I used are two Buhler DC right angle drive motors. The resin final drive transmission mounts were improved with ball bearings to further support the drive shaft alignment.
The motor’s drive shafts were too short to reach the sprockets, and needed to be replaced. I machined two longer drive shafts that are able to fully reach the sprocket. I also machined into the drive shaft two mounting points for the sprocket lock bolts. The Drive shafts are then mounted onto a machined adapter which will get secured onto the sprocket.
I assembled the kits metal drive sprockets. The Kit drive sprockets are very basic, and will be improved after all of the RC testing. If I were building the model as static I would have used the Panzerwerk sprockets instead. When assembling the sprockets I used fasteners instead of the kit supplied pop rivets. The sprockets were then bolted onto the drive shaft adapters.
I have also created new early Panther idler wheels. The idlers were casted with a gray tinted resin, so if the paint chips or scratches the resin will not reveal any “white” resin areas. The new idlers have been added to the product line. The Idlers were installed with ball bearings
