hetzer

I bought a second hand Tamiya Panther and would like to make some changes including Taigen Panther F turret/upper hull, dual current driving gearbox from H&L and some other bits like track tensioner and a smoke pump..
I am new into RC tanks and would like to know if those parts would fit on my Tamiya.

Crius

You can basically make any company's parts fit on any other company's tanks if you have the skill and the patience. The main thing to check for you would probably be the size of the hole that the turrets sits on, you might have to remove part of the upper Hull from the Toro tank and graft it onto the Tamiya upper, but it can be done. Like I said, as long as you have the skill and the patience. If you run into problems or have questions, come here because there are guys here that have done everything you can imagine with Tamiya tanks. And please post lots of photos, I'll be very interested to see how this comes out.

tankme

I don't believe the stock Tamiya electronics for the Panther will work with the Heng Long dual current gearbox. The stock Tamiya gearboxes aren't bad. There is also no smoker port on the Tamiya electronics as Tamiya doesn't use them. As far as smokers go a lot of us don't use them. There really aren't many real life tanks that actually "smoke" when running unless the tank has big issues. If you are firm in modifying your Tamiya to have those items, you will need different electronics. Typically the Tamiya electronics are meant to run a certain way and not great for making changes that aren't Tamiya parts.

hetzer

Yes, I am aware that tamiya card wont work and thinking of DK Tank as it costs less and I can get one from Russia. I really like the sound of Tamiya card and may give up the gearbox to keep the Tamiya electronics.

hetzer

Before ordering the parts from HL I decided to print a turret with my 3d Printer. Unfortunately all the drawings I found are distorted to be reference for CAD drawing. If I can come up with a good looking 3d printed turret I can start working on interior to install mechanical parts. Attached it the first draft missing many details but I wanted to see how it will look without post print processing.

Imex-Erik

Message us on the Taigen site if you need dimensions ok? I'll have the team get you some turret ring dimensions and the gear ring too

bowlman

I Built the Panther 2 a few years ago with the 88mm gun it was a paper panzer .
My Panther II Build
Thanks
Jimmy

MAUS45

That looks great!!!. I have the parts to do one. Just waiting for Kenny Kong to re-release the his Tiger II travel tracks.

bowlman

Ya I got his travel tracks years ago they work great get his sprockets to they match up better to his tracks .
Thanks
jimmy

sevoblast

You can use Etoarmor transmission for your Panther, and in your case it will come from Russia, too. The Etoarmor transmissions works perfectly with the stock Tamiya electronics.

https://etoarmor.com/?product=s03-et...y-transmission

hetzer

Yes, saw this before and trying to decide between eto and Henglong l65 transmission.

hetzer

tracks
My 3d printed 1/16 Tracks are surprisingly not bad. segments are connected with pieces of pla filaments.

hetzer

I decided to utilize by Resin Printer which can print all the fine details. 88mm gun mantlet was the test print and came out quiet well imho.
In order to design the interior mechanical parts I am looking for cad drawing or dimensions of turret ring gear.
Can anyone help?

Gun Mantlet printed with Anycubic Aqua Resin

1/16 Turret

Crius

I like what you're doing here. It looks pretty good. Just out of curiosity, why don't you just get an actual turret ring? They only cost a couple bucks, is there a problem with availability? I think you said you're in Russia, Sevoblast may be able to help you or you might contact Forgebear in the UK. I'm pretty sure he ships to Russia and like I said, a turret ring is only about three or four dollars. Not sure how many rubles that is. Bwahahaha

Again, great job, I'll be watching with interest. And in case you haven't seen it, Rich Johnson did a pretty thorough review of the DK Electronics. I think you mentioned that you might use those. Hope that helps.

Crius

Also, I'm not entirely sure a resin printed turret ring would hold up. That resin can be rather brittle so I'm worried about teeth breaking off. You might be better off to just get an actual turret ring and use that. I'm pretty sure those are made from ABS plastic, but as usual, I could be wrong.

jarndice

The Tamiya and Heng Long Gearbox mounts are completely different and the ETO gears are about as good as you can get, If it were me it would be a no brainer, ETO and Tamiya

hetzer

Heng Long Gearbox were tempted as it looks similar to PDSGB gearboxes. I agree that ETO gearbox is a better product.

I was thinking of a complete built up even with a better gearbox for the turret. In this way I would also eliminate mesh/fitting problem of gears due to shrinkage of resin.I will give a try with measurements from a caliper. Unfortunately it is difficult to find time for this hobby and each pause for ordering and waiting require extra motivation to focus and continue with the unfinished work.

I made a phone call about DK board and informed that the new boards will be ready around December. I am sure Christmas will be a good excuse to buy some tank parts including the DK Tank Board.

Crius

You see, that's how you know when you're a real RC tanker, when you no longer need excuses to buy tank parts.

Imex-Erik

Check on Thingiverse. There is a turret gear ring there that I've printed and used myself. Works 100% fine. It did not have the slot for the 360 rotation unit but that is easy to modify.

hetzer

First print out.
There are some issues with the mesh but it came better than I expected. Gun mantlet cover was very thin and broken during cleaning process. I will work on the internal mechanics design and some improvements.
Somehow Schmalturm turret reminds me imperial hardware from starwars and It looks really cool.

hetzer

I could not find the ring in thingiverse, could you please send me the link?

Thanks

Imex-Erik

Sure, you can find it here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2272121

hetzer

Would this fit a Tamiya Panther?

Imex-Erik

No the ring posted above is for the common Taigen/HL sized ring. It is the smaller one and not the larger ring found on some models such as the older KT Porsche tanks and Leopard 2A6 tanks.

hetzer

I have realized that the gearbox shaft connected to left sprocket is bent from the e-clip cut. I tried to fix it with hand tools but it still wobbles. I could not find any spares for the Tamiya gearbox and thinking of replacement from Taigen. Before ordering from Aliexpress and waiting 3 weeks for arrival I would like to ask if it would be easy to fit taigen gearboxes to Tamiya Panther Hull?