B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I thought about doing a project like this at least 6 or 7 months ago, but didn't start it right away. A couple months after thinking about it, I did start making a fiberglass base & gathering parts to get the project going .... but again never put too much time into it. But over the last couple weeks I started up on it again, & now have it at a functional state where it can IR battle with my upgraded HL KV-1 ... so the next obvious step will be to start working on the cosmetics of making it actually look like a Pantherturm now!

What you ask is a "Dual Pantherturm"? ... glad you asked .... well, when this is all said & done, I hope to have one working Pantherturm which should be able to take on 2 completely different looks ... & they should (hopefully) look similar enough to the Pantherturm's used during WWII, so that other tankers will enjoy having either version of it on the battlefield as an extra added distraction & combatant.

What I like about this project, is that you can just give the Pantherturm radio controller to any old by-stander who might have only been there to watch an IR tank battle, & instead of just being a complete spectator, they can then join in the fun of the battle right along with you & your tanks ... all without anyone having to worry that the "untrained" person isn't driving around the battlefield in an expensive tank with a possibility of breaking something which someone has worked so hard in building!

Some images of the "looks" I'm going for when I hopefully complete this project over the next several weeks ( & hopefully not months ) ...







However, as everyone will see by watching my video showing the very early stages of this build, as of right now I'm using a Tiger I turret, not a Panther turret, so maybe for now we call it a Tigerturm! And the turret is currently a 1/24 scale donor from a VSTank, & not a 1/16 scale turret .... at least not yet, so no need for any rivet counters to point out the errors of my ways about the incorrect turret ... though I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities over this build to point out many errors I make which were unintentional

No need to be alarmed though, because I do plan, at some point in time, to replace the current turret with a 1/16 Panther turret, as this is just the building & testing phases to start it all off & not nearly the final product!!!

Watch video of my "Dual Pantherturm" in its very early build stage by clicking below .......





The driving electronics inside this beast is a first batch Clark TK20-T board. Some actual build pictures will follow ....

~ Craig ~

FreakyDude

again another quality vid

1sgt

Craig,
I have a book somewhere around here of German fortifications. I see if it has any other pics to help your project. Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Jim

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Thanks for that offer Jim.

The second, larger variation Pantherturm, will be mimicked from an older computer game, Company of Heroes, rendition of a Pantherturm. I realize that exact style was never actually used by the anyone in WWII, but I just really like the look of it ... kind of badass, so I'm set on copying that design anyway, even if it isn't historically correct.

However, with the first basic concrete Pantherturm variation, it is obviously a real one that the Allies had taken out at some point, & somewhere, during WWII. That blurry image was the only one I could find of it, so it would help a lot if you or anyone could find any other images of it in better detail or from different angles. Maybe even images of the exact same model Pantherturm in another location. I've had no luck finding the exact same styled concrete Pantherturm anywhere else myself.

~ Craig ~

Airbrushler

found some pics not of the one you have but i think they made a standard size and alike

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I have seen many examples of those you have pictured, with mostly steel plate construction for the boxes used in those standard emplacements.

In the Pantherturm I pictured, it thought it could be concrete because of what looked like slightly rounded edges used for the support box itself, unlike the typical hard edged squared off steel boxes I see in so many Pantherturm images. I thought it might vary slightly to the steel boxed ones because it was concrete, so other angle pictures of this particular one would be ideal. Because it looked just a little different is why I kind of liked it, but maybe it only looks that way to me because the image is so low resolution & fairly blurry, that it's messing with my head when I look at it . I guess it could just be another typical square steel box like most we see, but even if that's the case, I'm most likely going to stick with slightly rounded edges & a concrete look on the base, rather than steel anyway .

~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

A few shots of the making of the base out of fiberglass

First I constructed a complete lower base out of 2-ply cardboard to the size I needed, along with the top, & cut the necessary hole in the top for the turret.



I then cut out enough fiberglass mat pieces to cover the top portion of the Pantherturm on both sides, along with a final outer layer of fiberglass cloth.




The result was the sloppy looking piece below, which I then trimmed to the needed size using my dremel tool, as well as cut the center hole back out for the turret.
It was very easy considering you can see through the fiberglass to the original cardboard piece to use as a cutting guide.





For the bottom, I started by cutting pieces & finishing the inside of the base first



After it set up, & before moving on to cover the outside of the base, I trimmed off the excess overhang off the top portion with my dremel.



Then I finished off the bottom by laying fiberglass over the entire outside, & once again trimming off the excess with my dremel




~ Craig ~

Rustytrax

This could really be a game changer. Now attack and defend missions can be created.

karel47

very nice mod , will follow this

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

he he ... Rustytrax, not sure we could call these a game changer, though they do add some extra scenarios & versatility to typical IR battles, beyond just having all tanks out there popping away at each other.

There have been quite a few done over the years, though I can't recall how often anyone has actually implemented them into their IR battles, or if there are any actual IR club battle videos showing a Pantherturm being used in them.

Though I'm not too sure many people would go to an extreme like this in making one, that is, using the more expensive electronics like a Clark board, better speaker, 2.4GHz control etc, which starts raising the cost a bit high for just an emplacement, especially when those parts can all be used in building more tanks instead ... & even if using some cheaper components with a bare minimum for Tamiya compatibility, control, & sound, it still doesn't usually justify the cost for most people I imagine.

But I really like the idea of using them, even if I have to both drive a tank & man the Pantherturm myself, during the battle!


~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Here are a few images of the turret, turret ring, & motor mounting of the VSTank 1/24 scale Tiger I turret.
When I get a 1/16 Panther turret, this will all have to be reworked a bit to fit the bigger turret. Good thing there's plenty of room!








I installed a block of wood to the base bottom for mounting the Clark board electronics. The battery fits nice & snug between the wall & the wood block, just need to maybe add a securing Velcro strap.
I'll also probably make a built in speaker box area to permanently mount the speaker where it currently sits ... right now it's just in a cardboard box of its own.





~ Craig ~

Rustytrax

I was looking at some of the motion tracking software to see if one could make it automated (http://www.realsentrygun.com/StarterKit.htm), Maybe if the sensor range was limited because it would shoot players walking around. That could eliminate a radio and make it possible to have one or two tanks with the Panzerturms fight off the invaders.
If you are interested I have access to some tablets running widows.


I might have to copy your efforts. I have 3 rx18s 3 DBCs and some servos but only one extra turret.

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I have seen the autonomous paint ball gun sentry & autonomous IR tank in Youtube videos, so making a Pantherturm autonomous is definitely a realistic possibility.

I think it would be better to be able to switch from manual, to autonomous modes though, because one of my reasons for this was to allow by-standers to be able to join in on the IR battle without having a tank. If the turret is only autonomous that option is lost.

The biggest obstacle with the autonomous turrets would be how to stop, or at least limit, friendly fire from happening. It would probably be impossible without expensive recognition software, or all tanks having a friendly / foe marker signal of some sorts that the turret electronics can pick up & know which units should be fired upon. I guess you can limit it's field of fire to a certain amount of degrees in front of it, then at least everything behind it would be safe. But without any type of limits on turret rotation or other programmed discrimination, wherever one of them would be placed would more or less off limits for everyone who didn't want to get shot ... friend or foe!

It would be extremely cool though, watching an unmanned gun emplacement pick out targets & fire. But more than likely, a quite bit more costly than what I'm doing too. Thanks for the offer, but besides possibly the cost, it's just way too much of an extra effort involved for myself to be interested in making; but if you are up to it, I say you go for it, I know I'll be watching the thread closely.

~ Craig ~

Ronan87

Forget unmanned... or else why even bother to play this game/hobby? Make all tanks autonomous and they can go at it while we have a burger :/

1sgt

I agree, It could be another taker who is charging his batteies and can't play in a round, or even a spectator who may have an interest.

Jim

YHR

This is very interesting. A guy could use an RX18 and an old Heng Long transmitter as a dedicated control point. As no motion is involved the sound effects ( cannon, machine gun, turret rotation) out of an RX18 are not bad, as you wouldn't have to listen to that horrible motion sound they produce. I probably got half a dozen old DBCs that could interface with the RX18 and provide the IR.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I might have to cast some panther turrets, and make a couple of these.

Food for thought. Wouldn't one of those styrene Kleenix box covers work as a base for one of these??

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

As long as you can stop the RX-18 idling engine sounds from running while the unit is functional Dan, so that only the turret & gun sounds would be heard, then they would definitely make an OK controller for one after adding any Tamiya compatible IR battle system.

And anything strong enough to hold up the weight of a turret, with a top that can secure a mounted turret motor, could be used for these units. I really didn't even need to use fiberglass mat or cloth to make it so strong, & could have probably just coated the cardboard itself with the fiberglass resin on both sides & it would have worked fine.

~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I would definitely like to see Pantherturms on the battlefields, which can be manually controlled, for reasons I already stated. However, I still don't see anything wrong with anyone wanting or having autonomous Pantherturms or tanks too, it's just adding some more options. It would be a group decision in whether to use them autonomously, & not a forced necessity on anyone. I could never support an argument that it's wrong to at least have that option, especially if the situation arises where participants would want them. If they aren't built, then that is just one less option everyone has to choose. It's better to have more options, & choose not to use them, rather than not have the options at all!

Not all clubs have big enough turn-outs at every single event, even when including by-standers that might just happen to be there, so having one more option to add able fighting autonomous obstacles to what's on the battlefield, when there aren't enough participants, would be a good option to have imo.

Besides that, if you had a few autonomous tanks & Pantherturms of your own, you can always find a battle, even if you are all alone without another person interested in battling that day. So I say good for anyone that can make some & add another possible battle option & scenario to RC IR battling. I could imagine this autonomous technology advancing to a point where you could have an entire autonomous force of tanks & emplacements on one side, going up against an all human force on the other.

But whether Pantherturms or tanks should be manual or autonomous is really a debate for another thread, so this will be my final post about the subject ... now back to the project at hand, building my "manual" Pantherturm.

~ Craig ~

Ronan87

I'v done software/hardware recognition work in the past... it's expensive and not easy.

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Did a little more work on my Pantherturm today.

Covered the lower box with wax paper to protect it so the new resin applied later doesn't harden & adhere to the base at all. I also marked out an area all around it, then cut out some more cardboard that will go around it to create the top portion bulge area, which will then be attached to the existing top piece which holds the turret, to create a tight fitting, one piece, easily removable lid.




I first cut & wrapped some cloth fiberglass around the base, & applied a generous amount of resin



After finishing the wrap area, I then take the cardboard cutout (shown wrapped around the base in the 2nd image) & coated it with a generous amount of resin too.




This was then wrapped around the base over the wet fiberglass cloth, & then the outside was coated with even more resin.
When this sets, I'll slide it up & off, trim it, then attach it to the top piece with more fiberglass mat & resin.



... more to come soon ...

~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

OK, one more step accomplished today, I trimmed the last support piece I constructed for the top piece, & then fit it to the original top piece that holds the turret, so it is now fiberglassed together as a one piece top which can easily be lowered over the base with a nice tight fit, as well as lifted off again to gain access to the internals.

So now I'll have to wait again for the resin to cure so I can start shaping the entire unit more appropriately where the original turret top piece hangs out beyond the new piece with its hard squared-off corners.






~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Worked a little more on the top part of the Pantherturm this afternoon. Trimmed the excess fiberglass & sanded the top overhanging square corners so everything is a lot more flush now.
The top slides down over the bottom portion very snuggly, & with the extra piece attached, it gives it that kind of a look I was going for in my first Pantherturm picture, close enough for me anyway.

Next I'll do a final sealing coat of the entire outside in some resin to fill in the majority of the pit holes, line grooves, & imperfections which are still left.

Since I'm going for a concrete look, I've decided to also add a square plate out of some styrene, to go under the turret, which will extend to about 1 or 1.5 inches from the outer edge of the top of the Pantherturm, mounted with small hex bolts, which will represent a steel mounting plate holding the turret.

Even though there is still a ways to go, here are a few images of how it's starting to take shape. I think once I apply the final resin, figure a good way to texturize it to look like concrete, add the steel accent plate, & then paint it, I think it will look pretty darn good, even with this 1/24 scale Tiger I turret on it. When I can eventually get my hands on & mount a 1/16 Panther turret, it should look really good & even more menacing!









~ Craig ~

MAUS45

Looks good, Craig!!!

Airbrushler

looks pretty cool just get some grey paint and little darker grey and speckle it with a toothbrush

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Thanks guys. Though my painting / fabrication skills are limited, here's a quick rendition of how I imagine it could look.








~ Craig ~