Panther G #4 build

[Ed Groenenberg]

After a few months of waiting, I was finally able to collect my latest kit, the Panther G #4.
Together with one of our local RC tank club members Riny, (he got number #6, we picked them up at the Armortek factory last Friday.
Kian gave us the factory tour, and after that we checked out kits.
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The next day a visit to Bovington was made, were we did meet a few other model owners, did a bit a shopping at the event
bought various items for the Panther (my wallet felt the pain), and I had finally a look to the real Tiger 1 - 131.
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On Sunday we drove back and after a bit of delay we made it home.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Today, time was spent to check the packing slips of each box, all was ok.
Also the parts were redistributed, one box with all the road wheel & transmission parts,
one with the turret parts and one with the rest, except the long parts.

A start was made with assembling 10 track links, the first few were a bit fiddly, after that you get the nick of it.
I would recommend to use a square file for going through each track hole of a link and remove the casting
seams, takes only a few seconds and the result looks better. May also be better for the sprocket teeth?

About painting the track links, was that also done on the original tracks, or were they just kept unpainted?

[Ed Groenenberg]

Last few evenings some time was spend to do some tedious jobs :
1 - assembling 2 sets of tracks, one for each side. The split pinsa are on the inside.
2 - barrel assembling, the thread in the barrel for the muzzle needed a run with a 16MM tap (borrowed from my neighbor)
It was scraping away minute slivers of material, but it did the trick.
3 - a few road wheels have been put together. This is probably the most *&($#*& job there is......
I too have the situation here the edge of the road wheel sticks out and thus not covered by the tyre.
I might either move the rubber to the front, as suggested by Dave, or grind the excess away.
4 - the bars with the bushings have been prepared as well for priming.
5 - the dishwasher is doing a run to clean various aluminum parts for the road wheels and drive section.

[Chris Hall]

Sounds like you may have it built for Militracks after all ……

[Ed Groenenberg]

What to do on a Sunday?

Well, you make a wooden stick for the sledgehammer.....

The original aluminum stick for the sledgehammer has a round end part, which looks that it could break of easily when one is not too careful.
So I decided to make a wooden one. I had a strip of French Oak left over, and made the stick.
The hammer part was drilled out, and using a watchmaker's file I squared the hole.

The original parts

The wooden replacement

The metal part needs finishing in black, the stick I probably will coat with furniture oil to give it an 'aged' look.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Today was a good day, it was priming time. The floor is riddled with empty spay cans.....(well, only 5 up till now).

Every aluminum part was cleaned with scorching pads, and then cleaned with Acetone.
A good coat of etich primer was applied, followed by a good coat of red oxyde primer.

Paint work during the day.

This job took most of they day, running between the Garage and the 'paint booth'.

In between I did assemble the base with the bars and installed the 2st torsion bars with pivot blocks.

I started using the button head bolts as specified with the manual, but basically every 2nd one got unusuable,
as the bit did eat away the sides. (Yes is was a quality bit, not a cheap 1ct one).
Out with the button head ones, in went the (temporary) cap head ones.
They get replaced with countersunk ones in due course.

And the pic below is an overview of all the parts primed today.

Today's painting job.

[Charles A Stewart]

Hi Ed.
Good work, and thank you as regards those awful button heads. I haven't started my Panther yet, but I think I will go straight for counter sunk screws when I do.

Cheers Charles

PS I have even been given permission to use the dishwasher, now that's a first.

[Riny Koks]

Hi Ed,

U are goin crazy on the Panther.
In this tempo its finished by Militracks.
Looking good sofar, my eye will keep record of this build.

We keep in touch.

Regards,

Riny

[Malcolm.Plumb]

Nice! Some very fast work there

My parts clean up seems to be taking ages to do

[Ed Groenenberg]

@Chris & @Riny, if time permits it might be, but it is not a goal on it's own.

Using the dishwasher for pre-cleaning the parts should hardly be a problem, I used 2 regular tablets (i.s.o one).
and run the full cycle at 70 degrees C. One weird effect, one of the drive casings got a sort of golden glow / hue
on it, the other did not. It must some sort of chemical reaction, although I have no idea why only one part had
this effect and not other parts (out of the 20).

[Gary Rafferty]

Hi Ed,

Very impressive work I am about where you are now on my build.
Looks superb Looks like you will have your panther built in no time.

Cheers
Gary

[Adrian Harris]

Interested to see people using the dishwasher for cleaning parts, as I've had aluminium pans eroded by putting them in the past.

https://www.hunker.com/13422984/how-to- ... urned-dark

Adrian.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Interested to see people using the dishwasher for cleaning parts, as I've had aluminium pans eroded by putting them in the past.

https://www.hunker.com/13422984/how-to- ... urned-dark

Adrian.

Hello Adrian.

That's interesting. My parts so far (the spacers of the road wheels, the parts to mount the sprockets on and the casings for the
final drive did not tarnish, except the one piece with got the light golden finish. Before they get primed, these parts too
will get a wipe over with the scratchpad and a final clean with Acetone.
The next round will be the assembled steel road wheels only, and then after that the same treatment.

Now I have to order the 'Dunkel Gelb 1944', as I only have 2 cans left from my previous rebuild, the PAK 43.
That will keep my busy for a while

[Armortek]

Putting Aluminium is a dishwasher is ok UNLESS you use dishwasher tablets/ liquid. The alkalinity in the cleaning products will pit and oxidise the aluminium. The oxidation can be removed with lime juice - the pitting will last forever.

Anyone who has ever put a Bialetti espresso coffee maker in the dishwasher will know this all too well!

[Ed Groenenberg]

Well, take Armortek's advise in mind when cleaning aluminum, especially when it is a espresso machine!

Today only a little bit of work was done, only priming a few small parts and using a 12mm tap to run through the swing arms.
Yesterday I tried to build the road wheel swing arms, but this did not go very smoothly. After only a turn or 2 the axle would
not go further, unless some force was applied. I think Brain Ostlind already made a comment about this problem.
So I got a 12mm tap at the local hardware store and used it to run trough the existing threads. Some went pretty easy,
some needed a bit of handling, but threaded holes now accept the axles and torsion bar ends without much friction.