2022 new build Jagdpanther Part 1

[graham pipe]

Hi all. Thought I might share my experience of building a new Jagdpanther without the benefit of having a kit!

So, 2 years ago I was just finishing my Armortek PAK 43 and thoughts turned to the next project. Really fancied an Elefant but couldn't, at the time, justify the expenditure, so decided on my favourite piece of German armour, the Jagdpanther. But where to find one? No ready built examples or unstarted kits were available (hardly surprising really considering only 35 kits were ever produced) so I asked the question on this Forum. Quite soon, a nice chap from Holland, Kees van Rijswijk, came back with the offer of his almost finished scratch built JP which utilised a far amount of Armortek parts.

Great, so the deal was made, Kees crated up the beast and I had Palletways collect from him in Holland. The large, heavy,
palletised box arrived in Normandy 3 days later and the model soon found its way indoors and up into my hobby room.

Kees had made a really fine job but there were a few things I didn't like - much modified Field of Armour plastic wheels and cast resin final drives plus the hull and superstructure were quite thin. It was absolutely fine and I could have finished off the tank and got her into running order. However, I really wanted a scale thickness hull and metal wheels and so began my search for Armortek parts.

Update February 2023: I have recently learned from a fellow Forum member that the model was built by a guy in Belgium and that Kees acquired then sold it as he was becoming increasingly frustrated with some of its shortcomings. Whatever, I'm happy with what I bought and the multitude of parts it's donated. And if anybody wants the donor tank (minus tracks, idlers, sprockets, roof, engine deck and gun/mantlet) then please PM me. Need the space now for the next project - an unstarted very early Armortek Tiger 1 kit from the first ever batch produced back in the day.

Calls to Monique resulted in the supply of the parts list and, to my utter amazement, she had the majority of parts to create a "kit" in their old Mark and Gill spares stock! Money changed hands and very soon a pile of large boxes arrived in France - thankfully, ahead of Brexit so I didn't have any customs duty to pay! The only parts I couldn't get were the engine deck, top roof, rear vertical hull panel, suspension bearing bars, torsion bars and swinging arms.

More questions on the Forum later and a chap in Somerset supplied a pair of hull bars and bronze bushes, another guy had been collecting parts for a JP and had torsion bars, swinging arms, stub axles, mudguards and, amazingly, the entire gun pivot mechanism. I also acquired from an English e-Bay seller a pile of Ludwigs Modelbau styrene upper hull parts for a Panther A plus a multitude of odds and sods in 1/6th scale. All good stuff and I'm super grateful to everyone who has helped in the Odyssey of this parts search.

Deciding to use Kees' model as a parts donor, I partially dismantled it and construction began in earnest.

Like all Armortek models, it flew together and in next to no time I had a dry assembled hull with suspension fitted and set to the correct ride height (having calculated the spring load on each wheel and taking into account the weight deflection). I used the original FOA final drive casings which had been modified with nylon inserts and ball bearings.

For the impossible to find rear hull panel, I got some quotes on milling or laser cutting one from ali, but these were hugely expensive for just a one off so I used the scale thickness styrene Ludwigs Panther rear panel reinforced with aluminium bar and it worked a treat. Once painted, you wouldn't know it wasn't aluminium. I did have to alter the side armour angles as the JP is different to the Panther.

So, happy with the lower hull, I then dismantled it all, sand and glass bead blasted all the parts then sprayed in self etching red oxide primer, painted the inner panels white then reassembled prior to final paint.

So, that's part 1 of this story - it continues over the next days and week.

Hope some of you find it of interest...

[graham pipe]

Hi all,
Have just started uploading a build log of my Jagdpanther which has been under construction for the past 2 years. It's now finished and is built from Armortek parts sourced from the company and by fellow Forum members. You can find Part 1 in the Jagdpanther section of "Armortek Kits".

Season's greetings to all from a freezing cold Normandy.

[Robert E Morey]

Very nice progress Graham, JP is one of my favs. Keep us posted.
Bob

[David Brady]

Nice work Graham

Cheers