CapnCrunch43

Thought I'd share some pictures of my toy Panzer IV. It's no Tamiya King Tiger, but it does get the job done!









The last 2 pics are from todays first romp in the back yard! Although it has no working suspension, I was surprised at just how far it would go before it lost the signal. I must install some sort of cheap speed control. It has some issues when turning!

The side skirts had to be removed for the session, because it kept shedding them all over the yard!

nemesis4u

My Feedback: (77)

Nice pics...can you get post some more???
That looks just like the one I purchased at WalMart ..made by Millenium Toys..packaging looks just like Ultimate Soldier package and it is 1/18 Scale ...great detail...has rubber tracks that are prone to coming off on carpet or grass in hard turns..Otherwise it is fun to romp around the terrain with... I cut my antenna off and am going to use it as a static model on our BattleField...
Btw,,,they have them at most WalMart stores from $30 to $49 depending on your store....

CapnCrunch43

Nemesis4u,

I'll try to take some recent up close pics tomorrow. It is the New Millenium model that was recieved as a gift. It has several issues that could be rectified in a number of ways. I plan on rebuilding it with a working suspension, new radio, and hopefully a rebuilt set of tracks but that could take a while!

A lot of scratch building has gone into the both the turret and hull skirts. The antenna has been routed through the actual mount(where the plastic one is in the first two photos). It's quite a blast to mess around with, but you must be carefull how and where you go with it!

Some earlier photos are in my gallery, now BTW.

CapnCrunch43

Up close pics are now in the gallery...

Turbobearcat

Nice look..but you did away with the exhaust tank in the back for two pipes...


looks good!!!


did you document what you have done?

CapnCrunch43

Where was this one hiding? [sm=lol.gif]

Wrote up a small mod explanation a while ago. Don't think I posted it here:

-Here are some modifications I have done to this Panzer to hopefully make it run and look better. I plan on getting new gearboxes for it and outfitting it with a new radio.

-For the roadwheel work, it would be a good idea to actually see if yours has problems and if it really creates that much tension on the track. The pins that hold the roadwheels on are very tight, so you are taking risks trying to remove them! On mine, both of the number 5 roadwheels on each side were about a quarter of an inch lower than the rest of the roadwheels. They also angled out away from the center guides making the center guides catch on them instead of guiding through them. I'm sure the lowering was done on purpose by the designer to aid in pivot steering the tank, but it was poorly executed.

-NOTE: When I first tried to fix this, I ended up snapping one side off! I then had to drill, pin, and epoxy that side. On the other side, the pin came out before the axle broke, so I got lucky. I then removed material on the top side of the axle, so it would sit right. The wheels wobble but, they all seem to wobble anyway, so big deal.

-You will most likely want to check the gearbox. It is filled with nasty, stinky grease, so I cleaned it and checked all gears, and lubed it with plastic compatible grease. I then found places where the drive gears scrape both the lower hull mounting lugs, as well as the hull sides.

-NOTE: I removed the mounting lugs, but you may want to remove just enough material from them to let the gears clear. I made a system that lets the front slope slide into a lip, then secured the top with the rear mounting screw.

-I almost destroyed the main gun trying to !QUOT!fix!QUOT! it. It is glued together crooked and the mantle sits crooked in the turret. There are two screws under the recoil box in front of the mantle. This was a trick, because the whole assembly was glued together, anyway! This meant there was no way to remove the gun from the upper turret half. I ended up cutting the upper turret half under the mantle, and then gluing this piece to the lower half. In this configuration, the whole gun assembly comes out of the mount with the cannon in the lowered position. If it is very hard to remove, simply scrape material from the backside of the mantle top. In the pictures(for later post) you will see white plastic on the left hand side cannon mount of the lower turret half. You may not need this as I incorrectly thought removing material on that side would straighten the mantle. After performing the procedure below, I found this was not needed and replaced it.

-NOTE: I managed to pry the recoil box apart up to the tube sleeve. I then cut where the box meets the sleeve, leaving the tube, which goes all the way through, intact and the sleeve glued to the tube. This allowed me to straighten up the mantle without destroying the sleeve or the gun tube. To get the gun down to level, I simply removed the spring where the breach is supposed to be and trimmed it until the gun lowered to level.

*as for the exhaust pipes on the back, I tried to model it after a mid production 'J' model with new exhaust pipes thicker turret top armor/turret fume extractor cover, and regular side skirts. Not sure if the length of the gun is right for a 'J', but it will work for now.

*The box says it is an H, but it is minus the aux motor muffler on the back like an early 'J' model. For an 'H' model, all that would have to be done is add the muffler for the aux motor on the back of the hull (left side).

*7 months later and it still runs with the original electronics. Knocking on wood....

Themadtanker

Ron
Just fantastic Mate!
Now thats the sort of tank HL need to design next, I'll be first in line for a hand full of them no matter whats inside.


Again just outstanding work

Turbobearcat

Thanks for the information there!

does anybody know if the gearbox from the HL Tiger tank will work for this tank?

bullyhys

Capn

Can you post some drawings or patterns that you used to make your armor skirts?

I'd like to make a set for my Mk4 as well.

Additional I removed the stock electronics and replaced with a 27mhz 4chan dmd tamiya unit I got from ebay.

Thus far the conversion works fine, I still need to add the single ESC to control the turret drive.

Regards,

bullyhys

CapnCrunch43

Bullyhys,

In the process of making a drawing showing the dimensions of both the turret skirts and mounting brackets. When I get it completed I will post it here.

When I made the skirts, I used the original one from the turret for those and used photos for the hull mounts and skirts. Probably not the most accurate, but they look OK. The biggest pain in the neck was getting the hull skirt mounting slots lined up with the triangle shapes on the mounting beams. It would be a good idea to line those up and glue them before cutting the skirts into individual panels. If I can remember the assembly process, I will try to add comments about it here also.

Ben2006

is that ''Dark-Yellow Color on that Panzer?.

CapnCrunch43

Yes it is. Tamiya Dark Yellow(XF-60).

CapnCrunch43

Thought I would at least put the drawing I have done up. I'm having quite a bit of trouble getting the measurements from the hull brackets. Because I had to bend the plastic in places and it had so many variances in corner roundness, it would probabaly be better to make these from brass. This would ensure like bends, and most likely make mounting the skirt brackets, as well as the railing to the hull, go a lot smoother.

Also, in the diagram, I did not put dimensions for the front skirt sprocket cut-out. These would be best done to fit AFTER all the skirts have been fitted to the brackets.

Ben2006

Yea what i thought.. Thanks Ron..Very nice work..Is it 1:15th Scale?.

CapnCrunch43

It is the 1/18th scale Panzer IV from New Millenium Toys.

Turbobearcat

Thank you..I have some plastic that is good for this conversion...I hope I have enough to do this...