sunray

After posting so photo's of my tanks here are the builds as requested. First is the Tiger which was an early version made by Heng Long as it had the old turret and mantle etc. It was bought second hand off ebay for around £30 because my youngest son didn't think it was a good idea to dismantle his new Tiger tank. I first decided to strip the Tiger down completely, so off came the battery and then the nylon tracks. The tracks require you to push out one of the connecting pins this done with a very small nail or pin and using a hammer so something similar to push out the pin and pulling it the rest of the way out with nose pilers. The photo shows inside the lower hull with the nylon gears and the RX13 circuit controller board. The aluminium rod at the back is an after market add-on to add strength the hull and to mount the idler wheels which I will show later. The plastic sprocket wheels were removed as they are just attached to the drive axles with a small allen bolt. There is a long white plug connecting the upper hull and turret to the controller card to unplug and also there are two wires to cut connecting the RX13 controller to the lights. I did this because I was upgrading the controller card to a new one. The rear is removed by unscrewing two screws. To separate the turret from the upper hull there are two circuit boards to unscrew and a few more screws on the turret ring and motor. With these unscrewed the turret should come away. The photo shows inside the turret with the gun elevation motor at the back and the BB gun assembly attached to the gun mantle. I needed access to this because this is an early Heng Long version of the Tiger and the gun mantle was the wrong way round. At this point it is a good idea to mark all the wires to make it easier later on. I wish I did! The next photo shows inside the upper hull. The wires are for the front lights which I am going to replace. The next job was to remove the track wheels. The outer wheels should just pull off with a little help and the back wheels need a bit of assistance off a hammer and small screwdriver as you have to remove the wheel axles from the plastic suspension arms. With all the wheels removed I unscrewed the screws holding the suspension arms to the hull as I was adding metal suspension arms. Be careful as there is a spring behind each arm. To remove the plastic idler wheel you have to split the wheel at the seem to allow access to the screw attaching the wheel to the hull. Next I unscrewed the screws attaching the gears and motors to the hull and I also removed the RX13 controller. The lower hull should be free of parts now and you can tidy up the hull and give it a wash. I purchased a set of metal suspension arms but like most things to do with these tanks they require a bit of modification. Because as you can see in the photo the hole for the wheel axle was squared and I require a round hole which was accomplished by drilling out with a pin vice and bit. So the wheel axles will stay attached to the suspension arms I decide to drill and tap to allow me to use 3mm grub screws. Also the wheel axle required the spline to be removed off each one making them easy to attach. The wheel axle before.... And after. Before I fixed the suspension arms and axles in place, I attached two aluminium side strips and a rear bar track tensioner to add more strength to the lower hull as I was going to fit metal tracks and gears. These were bought off the web and the side strips actually come with instructions how to fit but the tensioner didn't. Once fitted the side strips make attaching the suspension easy. You can easily work out how the springs go into the suspension arms and the arms just screw into the strips. The rear bar and track tensioner fit is easy to work out and do. Here is a photo of a trial fit of part of the new metal gears.

Thanks for the kind comments. The Tiger and the Bulldog only cost around £30 each off ebay as the were second hand and the Panther actually belongs to my youngest son who's 11. They are full radio control when you buy them. I stripped then down completely and upgraded the electrics, gears, etc which isn't that hard even for me. I have got photos of the complete builds or upgrades depending how you look at it for the Tiger and Bulldog and I am still doing the Panther. If anyone whats them I will post them up. I have got another Tiger and Bulldog to do and also a Stug III and Panzer IV both of which are still in the boxes. I will get round to doing them but at the minute I am have fun rediscovering Airfix. If anyone wants any info please let me know? Ian

I know what you mean. I did have to sand back the fuselage and also inside the canopy which required buffing as well. As you can image there isn't much room to play with and I had cut down the sanding sticks to fit inside but it is worth it for the effect.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to comment. Alex you are spot on about the wash as it does look a bit too heavy. I normally use Vallejo washes but on tanks so I will try using them on aircraft. The Promodellers washes are excellent and easy to use so I will try it on 1/48 and I will post the results and I will try and not be too heavy. Cheers Ian

You are spot on about the DVD's Nige. I first saw the Vallejo one which got me back into modelling but the memory's of my rusting battle damaged Fiat did help. Cheers Ian

Hi here are a few photo's of my tanks if any one is interested. A Tiger, Walker Bulldog and Panther G. The Panther is still being painted. Any comments welcome. I know I have gone a bit mad on the chipping but I find it relaxing and it reminds me of my first car, a "T" reg Fiat! Cheers

Excellent job. Wow!!!!!!!!

Alright mate. I used Vallejo's Color, Model Air and Tamiya paints. Then I used Pledge Klear Multi-surface wax (which is available from Asda for a few pounds if in the UK) sprayed on neat with an airbrush giving a few coats as it dries pretty quick. I left it over night and I applied the decals finishing with micro sol to soften the decals. I again left over night and gave it a few more coats of Pledge Klear and again I left it over night to completely dry. The wash used was Promodellers Dark Dirt wash (available from Florymodels.co.uk for about £5 or £6) which is clay based and its a piece of cake to use. The website has video's how to use but it is really easy to apply and remove. The exhaust was thinned black ink. That done I gave them a coat of satin varnish. Job done. I hope this helps and before I go the reason why the photo's weren't my best was because I have the builders in at the minute and also I am not at my best taking pictures at 4 o'clock in the morning. My flickr page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecirpnai/sets/ which has a few photo's I've taken of Spits' and Hurricanes, etc,if any one is interested? Thanks for taken the time to write the comments and if I can be of any help to any one please get in touch. Cheers Ian

Hi. Here is my attempt at these excellent kits I got for a few pounds. Please let me know what you think. Thanks Ian