Aussie Jagdpanther

Dale jordan · Post by **Dale jordan** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:22 am

Big day today for Rick . His jagdpanther is finished . Then 1/2 hr ago His King Tiger turned up at his home ... Without him knowing It was comming !! Now that's a knock on the door we all like !!! Rick will add his comments later as he is still trying to work out photo bucket ..so I'm adding his photos ..
Dale

leesellars · Post by **leesellars** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:31 am

Hello Dale

Fantastic work

Lee

Robert E Morey · Post by **Robert E Morey** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:36 am

Dale,
Thanks for posting! Thats a beauty! Congrats Rick -awesome job.

A JP is definately on my wish list. Fantastic build! I like the photo of the insides too. Is the gun counterweight included in kit or a builder mod? I'm considering something similar on my Panther. The long steel barrel puts a lot of stress on the little <grub> set screw holding the elevation screw. A counterweight would balance the long tube.

Thanks for posting the pictures! Glad to see another gorgeous JP out there.
Bob

Rick Jensen · Post by **Rick Jensen** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:56 am

Hi Lee and Rob

First of all let me thank my good friend Dale for posting these photos of the Jagdpanther, I really do have to learn this photobucket stuff it drives me crazy. The couterbalance Rob is not part of the kit, I like so many others would have found this out the long way but in conversation with Mark and Gill they assured me that this was the way to go and of course they were right. It is a substitute for the firing mechanism which acts as a counterbalance for the L71 gun, it weighs about 950 grams and I turned it down from solid brass stock, drilled and tapped it and fitted it to the existing holes in the rear of the barrel assembly. The rest of the kit was fun to build but I kept secret that I had a major accident with it during its construction phase.I dropped the virtually finished tank off my hydraulic table during a thunderstorm and had to completly strip it and rebuild it. I was not in a good frame of mind for some time (about 3 months) so it remained in my garage under a sheet so as I could not see it. I think my wife was worried at that time about my mental state of health!!!

Anyway after the rebuild I took it for its first run and it went like clockwork the only reportable fault that I had was with the sound system not been loud enough to hear.

So it sits in my foyer now and gets all the comments you would expect of visitors along with my early Tiger 1 which is in the kitchen............they just dont seem to get it do they?

Best regards

Rick Jensen

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:46 am

Hi Rick and Dale,
Thanks for showing the beautiful JP. Watching the interior layout always amazing me.
I can see the 12V 20Ah battery is made in Taiwan. Did you find it locally or ordered from overseas?
Also plenty of space can be seen at rear. Is a smoke pack going to be installed?
When you say the sound is not loud enough, what is the power of the speakers?
Best regards,

Lerh Chang

Rick Jensen · Post by **Rick Jensen** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:12 am

HI Chaing

I source these batteries for all my tanks as I find they are superior to any other on the market. I have the 12V 28 A in my Tiger and I get fantastic running times from them but they do add a lot of weight (20KG) to the model because of the plate thickness in them. My Jagdpanther is equiped with 12V 20A versions and these are excellent for the weight characteristics of the Jagdpanther. The sound issue is to low compared to original Armortek sound unit in the Tiger which I personnaly really love. I know it does not have the "bells and whistles" of the Bennedini but I like the pure simplicity of it and its reliability plus the volume is great, it SOUNDS like a Tiger. Hope this answers your questions.

Rick

Brian Leach · Post by **Brian Leach** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:49 pm

Great tank!

I like the paint. How did you get the muting, did you do a wash?

Brian

Robert E Morey · Post by **Robert E Morey** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:50 pm

Rick,
Thanks for the info on the counterweight. Im definately going to make one for the Panther.

Sorry to hear about the spill off the lift. Hooey that would give me a corronary (heart attack) too! I'm lucky that hasn't happened to me yet!

No fun at all.

Glad your JP survived all that - and is looking spankin awesome now!
Bob

Rick Jensen · Post by **Rick Jensen** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:23 am

Hi again Brian and Bob

The paint finish is the following. I use a two pack auto paint on all my tanks in a mix that I had tinted by a colleque of mine. It is designed to look like that "washed" colour to give it the worn and faded look and not so
much as the original RAL 7028 colour can sometimes appear which is a bit more yellow. I then use the "ROCO mini tanks " paint to do the green and brown which I subdue with thinners. This is then lightly sanded down with either superfine wet/dry emery or, ready for this, a Scotchguard scouring pad. (On these tanks you can definetly do it). Then I cover the tank with pastels to highlight the joins and deck fittings with a paint brush that I cut the bristles down on. Not that you can see it in the photos but the underside has good additions of dried and cracked mud around the belly plate and rear of the tank just to finish it off.

Regards

Rick

PS Oh Bob dont let your tank fall off the table, Trust me it really is something that can kill your day.

Rick

Jeff Hyder · Post by **Jeff Hyder** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:55 pm

Hi Ric,
Over the Top!!!

Cheers Jeff Hyder

Fabrice Le Roux · Post by **Fabrice Le Roux** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:55 pm

Rick,

Very nice build. Great faded paint job. Plus the actual pigment paste was diluted in the field with whatever solvents were to hand, so there is no right nor wrong degree of colour intensity.

Wheels could do with a little dust/mud/grime. You may be thinking let nature do the weathering, but IMHO it is better to do paint FX, seal it all with a geneous coat of acrylic varnish, and have the choice of hosing all the crud off after a day in the mud!

Driver's episcope, currently unpainted. Simple glass substitute, get a rectangle of silver paper (self-adhesive Christmas tape currently in the shops everywhere). Stick in over the 'scope, and then with a thinned gloss dark green do a wash, leaving the middle a little brighter. A couple of diagonal dark lines, add to the effect if not too obvious.

Bonza tank, mate!
Cheers, Fabrice

Tim Bowman · Post by **Tim Bowman** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 3:49 am

Very nice Rick!

Congratulations on both finishing this nice looking Jagdpanther and your King Tiger showing up at your doorstep! Perfect timing.

Nice to see a Jagdpanther

Again, great job.

Kind regards
Tim

Andy Payne · Post by **Andy Payne** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:44 am

Still can't see why my Tiger can't live upstairs in the lounge room.Your wife must be very sensitive to your feelings mate.Really a very nice job on your jagdpanther.Time for us tankers to come out of our shed/garage and walk into the light.More tanks inside. I'll even put cardboard down on the polished timber floors,(although tank tracks on your timber floor would be a good conversation starter).
Once again great build.
Regards
Andy