Side skirts for panzer tank

[DavidN]

Oh! the side skirts from Germany cost $55. The instruction on this one was also terrible. Very limited info on where the parts needed to be glued on. Not a lot of pictures either.

[DavidN]

I want to have a panzer IV similar to the 12th SS panzer division. These are what I base my paint scheme on:

[DavidN]

The skirts installation part is done. The tank will be sent to the paint shop tomorrow.

[DavidN]

Compressor broke down. I think I abused it too much. I went on Ebay to bought another one. No paint work on tanks for at least a week. For now, I just want to share my thought about RCtank.de. The communication went very well. The help in reducing the VAT fee was great. The shipping fee was supper high for just a small box under 2 pounds ($55). I ordered 4 side skirt kits for my stug III, panzer III, panzer IV, jagdpanther, a few accessories and figures. All the side skirt kits arrived without instruction or list of parts included. I had to email them and requested for the instructions. When I received them, they did not provide the list of parts I was supposed to receive. I had no idea of what I was getting or how many parts in my kits. The person who put together the items for the kits accidentally put extra parts into 2 of my kits. This created more confusion. Without the list of the amount of parts that were needed to work on the kit, I had no way of knowing if it was the extra part or if it was the main part. The instruction was also uncleared. I did not know what to do with some of the parts or where they supposed to go. For some parts, they did not provide exact location to glue them on the tank. I don't like the fact that I spent more time than I had too :-( Oh well! Nobody (retailer) is perfect.

[sclui56]

DavidN, sorry to hear about the order from Dominique, aside from the shipping cost (which I knew going in), he has been quite responsive in my case as well. BTW, my compressor gave up couple months ago, and instead of getting another hobby unit that is loud, I decided to go with a regular compressor, I ended up getting a 2 gallon 1.2 HP unit from HF, removed secondary QC outlet, added moisture trap + secondary reg and have never looked back, this thing is so quiet for indoor use.

There's also a smaller 1 gallon unit, could have gotten that as well but it was not in stock.

[DavidN]

I will swing by HF this week to check it out. Thank you for sharing!

[DavidN]

With the dimensions from the side skirts I bought, I am able to make two sets for my other panthers for practically nothing :-)

[DavidN]

These are the 2 I am working on. These two are lucky, lol.

[Vaseline]

Hey David show us how that would be great

[DavidN]

Hey David show us how that would be great

They have10 pieces of plastics measured 39mm X 78mm. 6 pieces have the 'C shape' cut at the upper right ends and the backward "C" at the upper left ends. 4 pieces have only "C shape" cut at 1 end and a little rectangular hole in the middle. Sorry I didn't take picture of those skirts. They have 12 of the little hooks (see pic) that needed to be glued to the side of the tank so that the skirts would be hung onto. The skirts are to be overlapped as 1st over 2nd, 2nd over 3rd and so on (see pic from left to right). Then they have the little rectangular plastic washers to secure the skirts from the outside. From the picture, that is how they look. For your information, RCtank.de did not provide instruction for this kit. He just sent me 3 finished pictures.

[DavidN]

When I made for my own, I just cut out 10 pieces of thin plastic with those same measurements. I want them to be held stronger so to be able to hold up with the the outdoor ride. I glued a long piece of styrene rod on first before gluing those 5 skirts on. That way the skirts would be further out to the side away from the touching the tracks. The way they had, each skirt was quite loose, and might fall off during the ride. Then I cut 6 little rectangular pieces for each side and glued them on to make them look like the hooks. That's my lazy way but I feel it's stronger.

[Vaseline]

Thanks that is helpful. Nice work!

[DavidN]

DavidN, sorry to hear about the order from Dominique, aside from the shipping cost (which I knew going in), he has been quite responsive in my case as well. BTW, my compressor gave up couple months ago, and instead of getting another hobby unit that is loud, I decided to go with a regular compressor, I ended up getting a 2 gallon 1.2 HP unit from HF, removed secondary QC outlet, added moisture trap + secondary reg and have never looked back, this thing is so quiet for indoor use.

There's also a smaller 1 gallon unit, could have gotten that as well but it was not in stock.

I went to HF and checked out the compressor. It was quite heavy and big for me. I don't have much room in my garage to put it. Thank you for your concern :-)

[DavidN]

I got this little one for $85.00 on Ebay

[sclui56]

Should be just fine David.

[DavidN]

Here is the result from it....

[DavidN]

The installation side skirts work on the Panzer IV is done. I will just play this one indoor since all the pieces are hanging loosely on those hooks. For it to be ridden outdoor, I will probably have to glue them.

[DavidN]

[DavidN]

In this last picture, I captured the red flash from the muzzle brake when it was fired. Kinda small since the tube in new metal Ausf. G long barrel I bought is very narrow. I could only squeeze the little LED machine gun light through instead of the regular 5mm white light bulb.

[DavidN]

The finished work on the super cheap side skirts installation on my panther.