1/16th Panther G late model.

[Mcgowan1]

Hello fellow modellers and tankies. I have here an out of the box Heng Long Panther G.
It is as stock as they come and as some interest has been shown I thought I would do a build/paint job of the tank on the Russian front, Winter Camouflage towards the end of Germany's forage into Russia.
It will take a while as I have to order various bits and pieces but I will post pictures and give explanations of what I have done or am doing.
I will not commence until I get some of your responses which I think is fair.
Okay here is the basic out of the box Panther G.
First pictures to be posted after these will be the base coat and a look inside for fun.


Okay there she is soon to be transformed. Please advise if you wish me to keep going. Mcgowan1.

[crazygary]

G'Day, Mcgowan1!!

Great looking tank!! I, for one, would be interested in experiencing your creativity!!

I hadn't, previously, thought of r/c tanks, but after seeing such interest on this forum,
I must admit, they do look like fun!!!

I am, at the core, a model railroader but am now very much enjoying being a part of the
r/c submarine community, as well as building surface ships!

As I am retired, I'm of the opinion that you just can't have TOO many hobbies!!

Build away, my friend!! We who are about to "watch", salute you!!!

crazygary, out!

[trout]

Ditto what Gary said. Techniques used on a tank are also used on a sub, so I look forward to learning from you!
Peace,
Tom

[Mcgowan1]

Okay I had to pull the tank apart for spraying and detailing so I thought for those who have not seen the inside of a R/C tank I would describe the tank we will be working on. The R/C setup in all tanks is mostly similar to this tank.


Here is the inside of the Heng Long Panther G we will be working on.
You will see starting at the rear of the photograph, two plastic tubes going into a unit. This is the Smoke Unit which you fill with the normally supplied smoke oil. Be very careful when you do this as too much oil will burn out the copper wire in the unit that creates the smoke. I use the stuff they use in electronic cigarettes.
Next to it is the radio circuit board.
Moving downwards is the MFM or multi function unit, the main control unit for supplying power to the turret control, motor running and speeds like an esc, sound, you will see a small speaker attached by wiring to the mfm.
2 brushed motors with gear boxes and lighting functions if the tank is equipped with an IR setup.



The turret.
You will see in this photograph a small motor housed in a unit which fits into the Turret Ring.
This controls the rotation of the turret from left to right. It also locks the turret when it reaches it,s longest turning circle so the turret just does not go round and round.
In the middle of the turremt ring is the unit which controls the Air soft mechanism for the loading and firing of the plastic 6mm yellow balls from the cannon.
It also controls the up and down movement of the barrel of the cannon and wiring for the lighting of headlight and machine gun.
All main parts are replaceable if something goes wrong with it appears no shortage of spares. Upgrades using metal like gearboxes,wheels,suspension,tracks and various body bits but BEWARE, I upgraded a Tiger 1 Heng Long brand which I purchased for 199.00 Aussie dollars and by the time I had finished the Upgrades it owed me 700.00 roughly but boy didn't she look the good. I have since sold her and that was that.


Moving on, the hull underneath.
Frequency crystal holder, 7.2V nicad battery holding position, On/Off switch, in Red Smoke Unit On/Off switch and the White circle is the Volume control.

So there you have it. I hope this helps some of you now in the understanding of how our Panther G functions.
Our next step will be to lay down the base coats to the complete tank. I will just be using a flat finish for this and will explain next episode. Hope you enjoyed our 2nd build general info. - McGowan 1

[crazygary]

Quite the array of electronic goodies in there! Most impressive!

It appears that there isn't very much left for a tank to do! These models are
pretty amazing, and I can certainly understand how one could get completely
submerged(no pun intended!) into such builds! Plenty of fun to operate as well!!

Thanks so much for the rundown, Mcgowan1!

Very cool, indeed!

crazygary

[Mcgowan1]

Good morning to fellow modelers once again.
Continuing on with our Iron Coffin the Panther G.


Here you see the wheels, tracks now removed from Hull. Looks different bare haha.



Bottom of the hull stripped bare



Some of the tools, jacks, air intake etc.



Top hull and what I will be using as templates for some of the camouflage templates.

Now she is stripped and ready for painting, I thought why not so I am going to add some metal upgrades.
I have a mate in the UK who will be taking of the following.
Crew
Correct decaling for the Panzer group that we are modelling.
Whatever else he comes up with.
I am in charge of the painting including crew.
Upgrades to be ordered, metal gearboxes, metal tracks and drivers and sprockets, brass mesh and grilling and other metal upgrades for realism, chains, towropes, buckets, German helmets etc.
The reason for gearbox upgrades are because of weight. When I first got the tank, after a few runs I noticed a slip sometimes from the Nylon gearing. With the weight we are going to add including the battery, I don't think a Nylon gearbox set up will last too long so that is why an upgrade is necessary in this instance. Cost 38.50 plus postage.
Okay so Remember Rome wasn't built in a day haha so when things happen I will continue.
Cheers for now - Mcgowan1

[crazygary]

Krikey!!!(sp?)

That's a "poop-load" of parts!!
Plenty of fun to be had, me thinks!!

Forge ahead, Mate!!

I look forward to your progress photos when possible !

crazygary

[Mcgowan1]

Hello fellow tankies and modellers, this is just a quick one.
Here is our Panther G with it's first coat of winter camouflage.. There will be a small break now while I order some paint and parts as discussed previously.
;

[Mcgowan1]

Hello once again, continuing on. I have started work on our cammoulage pattern. It will be a Panzer group in Winter, Warsaw Poland, 1944-1945.
I always start my camouflage using a pencil. When I an happy with what I am doing, I fill in the pattern and then use my finger to rub in the pencil work. I do it this way because if any errors are made I can erase them and then correct or rework the pattern I am trying to achieve. When happy I have a ready made pattern to paint over. This works for me 100 percent on the tanks.

Rear view

Front view

Right and Left views
Okay hope you can see the pictures OK, if not let me know and I will try again. More pencilling will be done when I paint the parts I removed and the accessories I will order in white. McGowan 1.

[herrmill]

HL's Panther G sure is a nice change from that Gawd-awful PanTiger they used to offer.

Regarding that winter camo, you may want to rethink your approach since no German armor ever came out in white paint - they most often used white wash - lime & water - that was painted on with brushes, mops, rags, whatever their crews could get their hands on. Camo patterns were standardized at factory on Aug '44, before that camo patterns were done in field by their crews over Dunkelgelb base. Any new tank arriving on the front between Sept-Oct '44 would have been in red oxide primer with minimal pattern or more elaborate camo pattern of Dunkelgelb, Rotbraun and Olivgrün. Camo again changed in Dec '44 to a Dunkelgrün base coat. Never were German tank exteriors painted in Elfenbein or ivory white - only the interiors & that was before '44 when it was changed to red oxide.

For whitewash you might want to try the hairspray method that many find easy to use for weathered look.

http://www.panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/142436.aspx

http://www.modellismochepassione.it/en/una-mimetica-invernale-molto-deteriorata/

BTW, I only mentioned this for the sake of accuracy, back then during the stage of the war the only concerns any crew would have would be staying alive as they continued to fight a rear guard action on their retreat back toward the Fatherland. Any need for winter camo would be very hastily improvised even down to using bed sheets & snow.

[Mcgowan1]

Thanks for your advice Hermill, firstly I am assured this cammo pattern was used by Panther G squadrons. I am not finished yrt lot's to go re the white was suggestion, this was only the tanks first coat to cover HL colours which are not accurate. The tank I assure you will not stay white. Thank you for your comments and I will look at the links and plod on. Cheers.

[Mcgowan1]

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/threads/pics-panther-camouflage-patterns.352/

Very good read Hermill and good info. See above link for Panther G patterns. The tank will not be pure white, it's only the first coat mate, lot's more work to be done yet. I am not so much concerned with 100 percent accuracy as this is just a refurbish of a cheap RTR tank and how by adding some paint, accessories you can turn it into a presentable tank.
So next posting we will be doing some painting. I will be hand painting the Winter cammo also using a wash effect right at the end, So let's just move along nice n easy like. Cheers - Mcgowan1.

[Mcgowan1]

Continuing on here you will see the camouflage pattern start to be worked, the lighter areas will be done in olive to tone in. You can see the patters starting to emerge now. It still has plenty to go haha but will start more mixing of colours as we move on.


There you are for the moment. Cheers.

[crazygary]

Wow! This thread is really turning into a bit of a history lesson.

I, for one, never even considered that camouflage was anything more than a "random"
thing, but it's beginning to make sense to me now.

It appears that the colors and patterns were deliberate in their desire to have the particular
piece of armor not only blend in with the surroundings, but the surroundings during specific seasons of the year, which makes perfect sense.

Very interesting stuff here, comrades!! A lesson learned. Thank you!

crazygary

[Mcgowan1]

Yes a tank change and history lessons ha, but Her mill was right in what he said some units had to scrounge anything they could think of at hand to do camouflage. I am still toying with an off white or cream or Olive for light areas, I will decide.