Jagdpanther Build

[David Battson]

Hi all,
I’ve been following this excellent forum for a long time now and thought it about time I contributed with some of my own efforts on my first tank build. The kit is a first release (2008) Jagdpanther and the build is intended to reflect a late version that may have left the MNH factory in the early months of 1945.
The main source of reference has been the very detailed Panzer Tracts No.9-3 “Jagdpanther”, so any errors there are faithfully reproduced in my build !

The kit first came out of the box just as Mark announced the double torsion bar set up. Whilst waiting for this ‘must have’ upgrade to replicate the distinctive rocking motion of the panther chassis (
) attention turned to the roof instead. Although always tempting, it’s never a good idea to start work first on the most prominent part of a project. The following roof details were finished to a basic state and hopefully by the time I return to them I will have had some practice at adding weld detail, casting texture etc etc…

Main Gun Sight sliding cover: The kit item was undersized and so I made up a new scale size sliding cover. The cover is held down by the roof fixings and also pivoted on the inside of the roof about it’s natural centre. The idea is to link it to the main gun traverse, so they move at the same time. In practice, the actual sight was attached to the main gun mounting and so moved independently of the sliding cover, including pivoting with elevation...but that may be just a deatil too far..

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With only three photos allowed per post, thats it, more to follow.

[simon_manning]

great to see some more jagdpanther building david and some nice work, on the sliding roof panel youv'e remade what goes over the cut out in the panel, does a sighting device poke out?, what stops the rain coming in?, also what are the three posts sticking up on the roof, sorry for the questions but i hav'nt that much reference material, keep the posts coming,many thanks simon manning.

[Tim Bowman]

Hi David

As Simon has already said, very good to see another Jagdpanther on the forum. Will follow with much interest.

Looking forward to it.

Kind regards
Tim

[David Battson]

Hi Simon,

No worries, always happy to help answer questions:
Yes you are correct, the hole in the sliding cover is for an optical sight which was attached to the main gun.
To stop the rain running in from the sloping roof, all JPs had thin metal strips welded around the ‘uphill’ side of openings such as hatches, fresh air vent and the sliding cover, but I am not aware of any factory made cover specifically for the sight hole. However I have seen metal strips welded around the rear and sides of the actual sight hole to further limit water ingress, but I believe this to be a field modification. The JP must have been quite leaky in the rain and often they are seen covered with tarpaulins in wet weather and during transit.
The three spikes around the loaders hatch are to fix the legs of a tripod for an external range finder. I have never seen a picture of one fitted, but presumably the high up position would help exploit the long range capability of the gun. In all the pictures I have seen, the spikes are very rusty, but show some form of radial grooving. I have assumed this to be a thread, but maybe wrong. Perhaps someone else on here has the answer ?

Regards, David

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[simon_manning]

many thanks david, the jagdpanther section needs more input, its good to have another build on here, have you any info on the drivers front periscope cover design on the late model, is there a flap that can be pulled to cover the periscope lens from inside the tank?, it looks to me as if something was installed there, regards and thanks for the post simon manning.

[David Battson]

Hi Simon,

The drivers periscope was quite vulnerable to damage, and as far as I know, the only protection it had was the was the sheet metal rain cover which you have already modelled. It was however easy to retract the periscope into the tank to avoid damage eg when firing the main gun.

Originally JPs had two drivers periscopes each with their own hole in the front glacis plate, however the second periscope requirement was dropped early on. Those body shells which left the armourer with two holes cut in had the one on the right plated over on the assembly line. Is this the cover plate you were thinking of ?

[David Battson]

More roof details

Front rotating periscope - The kit housing was ‘bulked up’ to the scale size by adding a sheet of alloy to the base and plastic padding to the sides. The centre plate has been reworked by adding a larger hatch for the binocular range finders and a scale size and thickness periscope guard made of alloy. It’s easy to think of aluminium as a soft metal, but it’s surprisingly brittle when you try and bend it ! The centre plate rotates on a brass bearing with the idea of linking it to a servo. Work to complete includes hinges for the hatch, casting texture and casting numbers.

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Rear rotating periscope - The kit item was a little undersize, so I made up a new one. The periscope guard needed to be quite tall, to give a view over the back of the sloping roof. – the kit guard fits easily inside. The centre section rotates on a brass bush, again with the idea of linking it up to a servo.

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[Steve Norris]

Hi David,
Your doing some very nice work on your JP, Please keep the posts comming as i think this is going to be a very interesting build.
Regards
Steve

[simon_manning]

superb david, great attention to detail, as steve said keep the posts coming, are you going to build your own periscopes? regards simon manning.

[David Battson]

Hi, Thank you for your encouraging comments.

Simon – yes I had planned to make up some periscopes, but very impressed by the look of the glass in the ones you have fitted - where are they from ?

More roof details

Fresh air vent - The kit item only had an opening on one side rather than three as per the original and so the inside was machined away and two additional openings added. Mounting holes were drilled through and fixing studs added. As with most of the roof fixings on the JP, the original fixing studs were a taper fit and bolted down from the inside and so externally the studs had a plain rather than slot head appearance.

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Main gun vent - The kit item was undersize, so I made up a new one. This was made in three bits, each slotting inside the other - the outer casting, the conical vent and the armoured cap. Work required to complete includes adding casting texture and the ring of fixing lugs for the watertight vent cover. Even though JPs weren’t designed with wading capability the fixings seem to have been provided throughout the production run.

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Crane Mountings – Three new crane mountings were made up. These are threaded internally and have drainage slots cut through the bases. The bases are also chamfered to match the slope of the roof, so that the top of the mountings remain horizontal rather than parallel to the roof.

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Close range weapon – I made up a new scale cover to the grenade launcher, the diameter of the hole is notably larger than the kit item. This was one of the few items where slot head fixings were used, as the cover bolted directly to the launcher and so needed to be removed easily. Work required to complete – add slot head detail !

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[Kent Wiik]

Hi David,

Nice attention to details and very well made customized/new details, I like that.

I follow your build with interest.

Kind regards
Kent

[simon_manning]

i sense a superb build in the making here, lots of engineering ability, and attention to detail, on the periscopes they are supplied by mike stannard in the u.s.a., i have bought just the basic set up and found some perspex the right thickness, then cut and trimmed to fit using my dremmel and finally polished with wet and dry paper and some t-cut to shine, thanks for the post and photos of your build, regards simon manning.

[Robert E Morey]

David,
Really nice details you have made. As the others have said its great to see another JP in progress. Keep us posted of your fine work,
Best regards,
Bob

[David Battson]

Simon, many thanks for the info re periscope glass, I shall keep a look out for some good quality thick Perspex.

More Roof details:

Hatch hinges – The JP hinges are quite distinctive and so I had a go at making some – these ended up being the most complicated machining done so far.

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Hatch openings - The roof on the first release models is 3mm sheet steel, which is plenty thick and heavy enough for the kit. However at 25mm thick, the real roof scales around 4.2mm and so to give the impression of correct thickness, a thin sheet of steel was added underneath. Also added was a second sheet with a slightly smaller diameter hole. This would have provided a surface for the rubber hatch seals to close up against.

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Hatches - Work on the hatches has been limited so far to cutting in holes for the locking handles, but the aim is to try and get something close to the excellent work done by Chris Fry on his JP.

Roof plate – The various roof details were moved about by differing amounts, to the positions shown in ‘Panzer tracts’. The original holes were filled with ‘Chemical Metal' filler (by Plastic Padding) and then re cut. The side facing periscopes were re-aligned to be parallel with the central axis of the vehicle, rather than parallel to the edge of the roof and the ‘biggest mover’ was the grenade launcher. Work required to complete includes adding the rain deflectors around the uphill sides of all the openings.

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With the arrival of the twin torsion bar upgrade, work stopped on the roof and attention returns to the lower hull.

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Lower hull details

Rear return idler support – The kit supplied rear idler support tube is flanged at one end and fits from the outside of the hull. Whilst this look is correct for the Tiger1, the Panther had a much slimmer arrangement with no external flange.
To address this, a new ring of metal was silver soldered to the middle of the kit support tube and the old outer flange removed. The new flange fixes to the inside of the hull and is shaped to clear the rear plate and suspension bars. To counter any increased transfer of loads/stresses to the hull sides, the new support flange is larger than the original and held in place with four countersunk bolts. The outside was finished off with scale dummy bolts and lock washers.

These are the same size - just a case of bad camera perspective

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[simon_manning]

a super build david and deserves a post to show it off, regards simon.