At last the JagdPanther's refurbishment has started! My JP has had an awful lot of hours running time and in fact is second only to Mark's Tiger (of Mark-1-Tank) or Jim 'the smoke' Cusworth's Tiger. On top of that, of course it has had to put up with my style of driving which as anybody who knows me will tell you is not always very sympathetic! Over the last few months we've (the Royal we, Howard and myself) been collecting various bits and pieces to refurbish the model. After the experience with the extremely tough bronze tracks on my Panther I decided that the JP just had to have them  and I preferred the lower gearing of the Panther, slower but far more powerful. So new bronze tracks, bronze sprockets and revised gearing are the main features of the work on the chassis. The motors have been replaced for no other reason that the revised gears are different on the motor shafts so we kept the newer motors. All the suspension arms have been drilled and pinned as what with the extra weight of the bronze tracks and my fascination with battery power,  the model will weigh far more than a standard JP. Extra springs will be added as well. The towing hitch will be retained but a better way of locating the superstructure to the chassis has been devised. The round engine access hatch on the rear panel is removable with a large thread in the rear which screws into the chassis. This of course means that in future if the gun barrel is rammed into a bank it will break!

A new aluminium sub chassis has been constructed which fills the entire chassis. This houses the speakers and sound module at the rear, speed controllers and Rx module on a new upright which fits behind the fighting compartment rear, the gun and all servos on the section above the battery and the electronics underneath. The control panel appears through the main hatch as before but is part of the bigger upright. This also houses an hour meter which will indicate, strangely enough, how many hours the model has run. A bit late now, I hear you say, but if I was ever to have another new model I would put one on from the start. The sub chassis also houses a high powered wireless CCTV transmitter which we hope will have a longer range than normal and a water pump!!!

Elevation and recoil are far simpler now that the gun has been relocated onto the sub chassis. A fan has been added to the end of the gun barrel and another in the roof of the fighting compartment to allow ventilation when the gun fires. Hopefully some of the smoke will find itself going up the models gun barrel. 

A new superstructure rear panel has been made from Aluminium together with all the hatches and armoured exhaust covers. The flamvernichter are copper again but with steel brackets. The stowage boxes are steel. A new crew heater has been made from steel as has the mud guards, running boards and various detail parts.

Anyway have a look at the first  batch of pictures from the Uckfield Panzerwerks with more to follow as and when.

The armoured exhaust covers are machined from solid Ali!	Here we see the stowage boxes for the rear panel in their initial guise.	The rear panel is starting to come together now...	...and here the stowage boxes have been finished and attached.	The beginnings of the front mudguards, made form steel they should be unbend able, hmmm!
Here's a nice three quarter view of the model showing the curious colour scheme after being bead blasted!	A square on view, with the aluminium of the side panels reflecting the light. These were modified when the model was originally converted.	A close up of the new rear panel showing the steel stowage boxes, flamvernichter and various hatches. Note the scratch built jack.	A close up of the engine deck showing the new steel crew heater and various detail parts. The grilles were opened up by yours truly and yes you can see where I got a bit carried away and broke the left rear grille!	New steel spare track link hangers and a better view of the running board and schurzen brackets.
A close up of the engine air intake again made of steel...	...and the new crew heater.	Some of the new tools on new tool racks...	...including a custom made fire extinguisher in brass...	...and new wire cutters.
This picture shows the stereoscopic range finder.	A close up of the barrel cleaning rods container. This was fashioned from the model's original in the same way as the one for the Panther was made.	A few weeks later and the chassis is in it's completed painted state. The battery tray/sub chassis location metalwork can be seen in the centre and the smoke generator at the rear.	At the front of the chassis is the gearbox with a metal lid. Note the two motor connectors and new bronze sprockets.	Here we see the new sub chassis in all it's glory! At the rear is the speaker box with all four speakers (the old box only had three!) with the upright for the control panel towards the top of the picture.
The sub chassis from the front showing the gun and to the right of the gun the Video Tx.	Underneath the sub chassis is the electronics. To the left is the sound module and switching servo, middle left upper is the RC Rx, to the right lower is the underneath of the gun trigger servo, an ESC for the elevation motor and in the middle lower are the 70A main relay and the 30A smoke generator relay.	The rear of the control panel, showing the two fan cooled speed controllers, rear of the hour meter and the top of the Video Tx.	The RS hour meter which records hours all the time V is applied. Not 100% accurate but near enough. A bit late now as this is a refurbished model but useful for all new models.	This is what the control panel looks like from outside the model. Four switches, main on off, sounds/acc, smoke and Video, battery meter with pushbutton, charging socket and in the top left corner the sounds volume control.
This view shows the gun elevation and recoil mechanisms, and in the top right hand corner the Video camera.	The new Flamvernichter doing their stuff.	The first coat of paint goes on in Howard's back garden. Fortunately is was a lovely sunny day, just right for spraying.	Then the green. Howard likened this to a green and yellow cow! Hmmm!	At this stage it's difficult to tell how it's going to turn out. It's very splodgy though!
Now the browns gone on you can get an idea of how it's going to turn out.	And here we are 'Mit Spots!'	Howard must be getting the hang of the spots as it didn't take anywhere as near as long to paint them this time!	Here we see the finished article at its debut at Ascot in April 2004.	The model ran quite well considering this was the first time it had been assembled. Note the rear hatch partially blown undone by the force of the gun and the sticky track links.