Old MSgt

You all may not realize it and would probably be surprised but I've developed a 'slight' infatuation with 1/6 tanks. I've gotten in the habit of keeping an eye out for'em and a couple of weeks ago I ran on to an Armortek Panzer IV, model H, for sale (cheap) in Atlanta, GA

The seller ordered this kit from Armortek in 2011. When he received it, he opened the tops of the boxes, looked in, then resealed'em. He never got around to start building it and said it's heavy and takes up a lot of room.

Now five years later he decided to sell it and was asking 'somewhat' less than it originally cost. I thought about it and decided I'd be a good person and help him get shed of it, take it off his hands.

UPS delivered it a few minutes ago and I've just been looking at the parts, unwrapping some of the larger ones. All the parts are sealed in the original foam (with dry yellow tape) or heat sealed bubble wrap bags but I've taken a few items out to see what they look like and show ya.

I'm going to leave most of the parts in their packages until I need them so I'll know where they are cause my workbench is NOTORIOUS about parts just 'JUMPING UP and RUNNING OFF on their own little legs! I KNOW I put it right here!'.

This P4 is sure LONGER than I thought it'd be. After handling these other two 'brutes' around (the T1 & Panther), the P4 is less than half the weight of them. This'll give me some more to work on for a while.

Mike

sevoblast

I'm sitting here drooling. I know that at my age that could be considered normal but this is more than usual. Can't wait for the photos!

sevoblast

Hmmm. Net is strange this evening, the photos didn't come through until just now. Dang, that is one fine tank even if it is in pieces of the moment!

MAUS45

Mike I am jealous!!!

Imex-Erik

Just a question.... Where do you store these guys? I have to hide most of my tanks and RC stuff at work so my gf doesnt notice! I got a decent sized garage but I dont think I could hide one of those! Also what is the dimensions on them if you dont mind me asking? I'm just wondering how well you could get them through a door. Bossman's Sherman upstairs is around 36cm x 75cm or so and is quite big.

Old MSgt

I just store'em in the garage (MY 'tank workshop') up on the old motorcycle lift I've had for over 20 years. My 1/16 tanks I have on a shelf over by the door. My wife said that if I needed the room in the garage I could drive one of'em in to the living room but I won't do that because the tracks would scratch the daylights out of the wood floors. And we sure can't carry'em.

And the Tiger is about 41" long (without the barrel), 24" wide, and roughly 18" tall (to the top of the commanders' hatch). It weighs roughly 375 pounds. The Panther is slightly longer, but a slight bit shorter and narrower and it probably weighs about 360 (+/-). That's why when you're driving one you have to pay close attention to it because it could do some damage if it got a 'wild radio hair'.

When I go to pull a track I use a small 2"X4" wood block and a lever to raise one end and put a 4+" block under that end, then do the same to the other end (but watch your fingers!). Then pull a pin and slide the track out. You'd be a STRONG person to pick up one end of'em cause I've grabbed a sprocket or idler in each hand, gave it a good lift and I can't even rock it (but I'm 'old an' give out). But I can lean in to'em and maybe slide'em sideways a touch.

(and just to mention: When I got back from that trip to Pennsylvania to pick up the Panther, we used the forks on the tractor to pick up the pallet out of the back of our F150 and I was SURPRISED how much the rear of that truck rose UP!)

This P4 will weigh (with batteries) only about 175 pounds so it'll be a lot lighter to manhandle around.

Armortek makes it's tanks the same scale thickness of the turrets and hulls as the real tank so the aluminum is thicker on the larger tanks than the Panzer IV.

Mike

ausf

What the heck?


Most of us are left to just dream and occassionally look in vain for one of these, but not you Mike, you buy 1/6 armor more frequently than I buy food.

Are you the Armortek Whisperer or something?

I swear people are leaving them on your lawn at night.

This is my favorite so far...

Old MSgt

LOL!! Naw, remember that I've been looking for'em for YEARS after I bought the T1. That 'hooked' me on'em. Now I've ran on to a couple for sale at really good (LOW) prices and CLOSE to me (PA & Atlanta). If further away ya got to figure shipping and these Armortek tanks ain't light. BUT if it's close enough to drive to in a few hours...

Just think how often a person that wants an Armortek LOOKS at 'Armortek' on ebay or the 'For Sale or Wanted' listing on the Armortek forum? I've been checking those a couple of times daily for a long time. I have both those sites as my 'favorites' and quickly check'em when I get up in the morning. And two have popped up within driving/shipping distance.

The Panther & P4 I've just recently bought I saw early on the Armortek 'Sale' forum. And as I mentioned before, these WERE in the U.S., not England or Europe like they are usually. And both were WAY below what I expected (and COULD afford). And I was the FIRST to respond to the ad. ("I'm interested in your..." and "where are you located?")

If ya want an Armortek tank then ya got to look for it DAILY on the internet. One could be right close by ya but if you weren't looking...

Mike

Panther G

Take notice that his " work bench" is a full sized motorcycle lift, and we aint talking tiny little dirt bikes we are talking HOG'S as in Harley's.

Old MSgt

I've been washing the machining 'soap' off the parts I'm going to use then bead blasting'em to get the smooth shine removed so the paint will have something to hold to.

The swingarms are pretty snug (TIGHT) going in to the suspension housings so I've been filing off the sides to make'em loose to go up and down. I'm going to paint the housings when I get'em together before I install the leaf springs.

And there's a LOT of holes already drilled in the parts, obviously for detail bolts, so I've been installing MY (because those detail bolts AREN'T included) brass bolts. The belly pan took a bunch of bolts/nuts, all for detail (but those WERE included.)

ANNND, while rooting around in the pile of bags trying to find the leaf spring bag ('I KNOW I saw it somewhere...') I ran on a big ball of bubble wrap. Wonder WHAT the heck is that! Unwrapped it and found a gift to the buyer from Armortek. It has a 'shot glass with handle' (cause my coffee cup takes half a pot to fill), a couple of key fobs, and pens. That's nice of'em.

I'll post pics when I get more done if anybody cares to see'em cause all my friends on here are mad at me cause I looked a lot and found some big tanks and nobody loves me no more and thinks I'm a do-do head and ugly and ain't smart and wished I done got runt over by a tank and all my beer got warm and gave me burps... (sniff-tear...)

sevoblast

Now now, Gramps, stop yer cryin' or I'll rap you alongside your haid. Nice looking work there but a word to the wise with all them bolts and nuts. It's very important to keep the bolt and nut tool well lubricated. This task is done from inside the device and the lubricant comes from an aluminium can. My recommendation to keep that bolt twisting elbow and wrist in top shape is one can of lubricant per hour, more if the joints start to creak but at your age they probably creak naturally. This advice given to you by someone who changed Noah's diapers. I'm about to follow my own advice to keep my typing fingers relatively supple and cooperative for a while longer this evening.

Old MSgt

OOHHH 'Pap-Paw'! I built, restored, and worked on Harleys for decades! I ought ta know the creative and inspirational aspects, when working on heavy junk, to have a WELL VERSED constitution in the 'well greased elbow'.

I gratefully 'tip my hat' to your wisdom, vast knowledge, and with all due respect to superior age and experience, appreciate the professional astute observations of an expert of your caliber to continually advise and guide me in the construction of this vehicle. Your inputs are treasured and duly noted and appreciated!

Now, Rudy, I'm interested in that 'Vallagho' paint you mentioned. I'm going to look it up and see what it looks like. Thanks!


Mike

sevoblast

Well, Gramps, I think I vaguely remember you mentioning something about twisting wrenches on Brother Harley's Finest. I gracefully acknowledge your tipped hat for my wisdom and knowledge and my vast years of experience far in excess of your few years on this rock hurtling through the void. One of the advantages in reaching my huge accumulation of years is I can get away with things that you youngsters can't. For instance it's been about a month since I last pulled one of my favorite tricks on VCO so tonight she gets the blank stare and the 'who are you?' when she wanders in to my little office. The roughly two seconds it takes for her to realize she's been had and for those pretty brown eyes get real small gives me enough time to get out the office door and out of range of that ten kilo family heirloom silver spoon she seems to always have in her apron pocket.

I know you'll do a your usual excellent job on this P4 and to be truthful after seeing your previous builds I have no doubts it will be a stunner.

Old MSgt

Well, I've been SCREWING MY BRAINS OUT today! I'm beginning to think that half the weight of this tank is SCREWS/BOLTS/NUTS. I spend half my time looking for a screw and the other half trying to find my nuts! These bags of hardware is all over the place.

This morning I put the leaf springs in all the suspension swingarms, then installed them on the sides of the tank because they're part of holding the belly pan and sides rigidly together.

Each suspension housing takes 10 screws and to keep from going CRAZY(ER) I used my Dewalt set on low brake drag as an 'impact wrench' and it saved a lot of time.

I've bead blasted most of the high 'rub' areas like the belly hull, front/rear plates, suspension, etc., to help hold the paint on. I sprayed white inside and primer out but I had to order more Tamiya TS-3 and it'll be here this coming week.

The road wheel hubcaps have detail holes for bolts BUT didn't come with any so I used brass bolts I had. I JB Welded them in. The hubcaps screw in to the road wheels (which is kind of spiffy!) and protect the bearings. (It's the same setup on the Panther)

There's 36 road wheels (and'll take some PAINT) with 32 for use and four for the side hull carry rack.

I got the front and rear plates on after blasting and painting'em. The bottom (belly) hull has steel U plates that go between each suspension housing and I'll blast them tomorrow, prime'em, and mount them.

The sprocket hubcaps have 12 holes and they are REAL. I mean ALL the holes are threaded for 12 bolts so if you want to take the cap on/off later, better have a GOOD reason to take'em off and use your Dewalt 'impact wrench' again.

This is the FIRST Armortek I've built. The others were used and already put together. I DID tear the T1 down to bare hull and refurbish but P4 I'm doing from the ground up. It's fun but IS all wrenching.

And it was 92 degrees today and BUILDING TANKS is HARD and THIRSTY WORK!

I'll post more pics when I get something interesting done.

Mike

Panther F

If you ever need any moral support or supervision let me know!






Jeff

philipat

wow! nice find and nice work so far...which variant will this be?

Old MSgt

I'm pretty sure it an 'H' model because it has the one piece commanders' hatch, later muzzle brake, and 'regular' exhaust drum.

I've got a few more things done but it don't look like much when ya (I) look at it. I put one track together this morning (98 links) but I didn't want to get 'burned out' doing it so I went to work on the rear idler setup. I'll do the other track tomorrow.

I'll take some more pics and tell ya how some of the stuff is tomorrow.

Mike

Old MSgt

Here's a couple more pics... I've been just doing little things because the paint I ordered hasn't got here yet. I like to paint some things before I install'em so I'm mostly just waiting...

I put the other track together and sprayed'em both with a dusting of tan. We recycle aluminum beer cans so I crushed and bagged all the empty ones. Gave 'U-Bunny' (our bunny rabbit out back) a grape. Installed the muzzle brake on the barrel (after chasing the theads). Worked hard to make some more empty aluminum cans. Installed more brass bolt heads... Important stuff like this! ALL for the want of some spray cans of paint!

The instructions say that when the lower hull is done then the upper can be built (loose screws/nuts) THEN installed on the lower. I'm going to do that but have to get the lower on it's wheels so I can get it out of the way.

Here's how the rear idler gets adjusted. There's a thick steel U slab that's bolted on the rear plate and goes across for the idler housings to bolt to then.. well, you can see how the adjustment works.

I noticed that the four return rollers went straight across and thought the rear ones were suppost to be lower. I looked in the books and they are SO I looked on the Armortek build forum and some dude had measured the lower rear mounts on a P4 in a museum then figured it out that for 1/6 scale they needed to be lowered 1/4". So I drilled new lower holes and lowered'em.

I have the roadwheels taped, just waiting for the PAINT. Soon as I get them painted I can start epoxying the tires on. Then get it on it's wheels/tracks. THEN start on the upper. More pics when I get something worth looking at done.

Mike

Old MSgt

ANND I'll share another 'obstickle' I'm going to have to figure out. The turret, tool box, and main gun mount are machined out of blocks of aluminum so there's milling marks (lines).

Me being as smart as I is, I came up with the idea of using them milling lines to my advantage! I got a ruler and marked some pencil lines down vertically to see how I'd make'em 'zimmerite'!

All I'd have to do is git a hacksaw and cut down across those lines! THEN they'd be automatic 'zimmerite'!! And you all would rave: 'AWW MIKE, yer tha BESTEST ZIMMERITER THERE EVER WAS!' And I'd be proud! (LOL!!)

THEN I realized that we're TANK ENTHUASTEST on here who HAVE seen a tank or two and 'somebody MAY' notice just how PERFECT them lines were and thay WEREN'T exactly 'right'... see, ya hang on here with people what knows what they's look'in at...

SOOO, I guess I'll take the high road and either use some body putty, sandable primer, or something to fill them in. Then sand'em smooth and they'll look like plate steel. (ANY suggestions on this course of action will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!)

To be honest, zimmerite MAY be CORRECT sometimes, but I've never liked it because I think it covers up a lot of the hull detail. Yes, it was used extensively on a lot of tanks at certain times, but I like the 'bare' steel sides to show the steel plates, welds, and smooth lines of a tank.

It WOULD be 'easier' to just slap the putty to these milling marks, make the 'hand applied' lines in it (and I have those grooved appliers that came with the Panther), then wouldn't have to do many 'weld' lines.

This 'H' model (or a 'G' thru 'J' as the instruction sez it 'could' be) Panzer IV didn't come with the turret/side guards. The next owner of this P4 can make them if he wants. And I'm pretty much building this kit the way it came but with some 6SI tools added.

I've looked at the P4 builds on the Armortek build forum and those are WAY ahead of what I (during this initial build) want to go in to THAT depth (both for funds and time). So I'm just doing a 'decent' build but is in no way as detailed as THOSE other builders are doing.

Mike

Imex-Erik

You wouldnt happen to have a sandblaster would you? This might be easier and less time consuming than the filler. Not sure how it might effect the finish though....

Old MSgt

Yes, I've had a sand blasting cabinet for over 22 years (I got it the same time as the motorcycle lift, about 1994). I used it to clean old Harley parts for painting, then used glass beads to clean M1 Garand parts for reparking (I used to parkerize M1s I collected).

I'll try it GENTLY at low PSI because even glass can be VERY abrasive to edges and round them off. I'll try it tomorrow.

I received the paint today and painted the wheels and underneath the hull. Then epoxied the tires on the road wheels. I'll install'em tomorrow morning and see how it looks.

But that's all I want to install on the lower right now so it'll be light enough for my wife (who's pretty strong) and me to carry over and put on one of the shelves so I can have room on the bench.

And SERIOUSLY, it dawned on me today that I NEED to DRIVE my tanks more! As my wife said, I hardly drive'em much before I have a NEW project to restore/build. I'm in a rut... always working on one and not enjoying any of them...

Mike

Old MSgt

This morning I installed the road wheels and was then just about to go find my 'little helper' (wife) to help me carry it over to the shelf, then I realized that IF I reorganized this bench I could leave it here on the other side.

That way it'd be close to check stuff while I'm assembling the upper AND I could roll it around where ever I needed it! I'm a GENEUS!!! So I lowered the lift, drove off the others, moved stuff around, then repositioned'em. EXCELLENT!

(And BELIEVE ME, I checked to make sure the lift was 'happy' with that much weight on one end! I got it up then slowly put lift pressure on the empty end and it's still to heavy on that end for me to pick up. I just wanted to make sure so I don't get crushed, or worse, tanks damaged!)

So I short-tracked the lower so the rubber tires won't have to be drug sideways on the bench top. On the tracks it rolls and slides in the turns VERY easily so I blocked it. I'm going to wait til I get the upper figured out before I put more weight in the lower.

I blasted a little on the turret (I was going to anyway for the paint) but those lines sure are stubborn and I don't want to blast valleys. I got another idea but I'll going to 'take it slow' for a couple of days and enjoy this weather! (and we're getting in a load of hay for the little horseys so I 'REALLY' look forward to moving that...) I'll post more pics in a few days!

Mike

Jarlath

Ya. You beat me to that Armortek that was listed (by a day damnit!). Looks good. Cannot wait to see the finished product.

Panther F

And here I thought I was the only one that did this BUT, the mechanic inside of me loves building so much I hardly think of it other than testing. I have 3 dogs and a fenced in backyard, so no running them out there and the last time I had them out for the neighbors to see it drew a crowd of kids wanting to know if I bought that at Toys 'R Us! LOL


You needs LOTS of space to work on this size of tank Mike... it's looking good!




Jeff

Old MSgt

Yeah Jarlath, sorry to have ran on to it earlier, but that's what I've mentioned to those that want an Armortek: You have to look OFTEN and then be READY and QUICK! Cause if you hesitate to ponder, try to decide, or debate it, and don't respond first there'll be some other 1/6 enthusiast that will!

A few years ago, early Sunday morning, while surfing for 1/6, I came upon a Cactus Tracks 1/6 rc metal Stuart tank (which were made in California by Lake Isabella but aren't made anymore). As I said, it was all metal, had a 2 speed mechanical gearbox, looked and was priced GREAT!

The 'buy it now' ebay auction was only about two hours old. I GOT ALL EXCITED but thought, figured, yes/no, do we have room, what will shipping be from Chicago... STUPID stuff like that! After about 15-20 minutes I decided to grab it! Hit the 'buy it now'... and it was sold. THAT QUICK! Felt like 'CACK'IN'!... but it was my own fault missing it because I had to 'think about it'.

For years I've been looking (a 'few' times a day) for a used Armortek King Tiger, Sherman, or U.S. M3 halftrack but ran on others that were a good deal (both in price AND proximity to me). Now I'm trying to scrape up some more funds in case one of those I mentioned 'shows up' and I see it early!

Mike