¹⁄35

Building a 1:8 Scale Panther: Part 2

The Turret

As I intended to have a firing main armament I removed the cupola, the gun and the mantle with its mounting. All of the non-scale detail was sanded off and the rear hatch removed. As I intended to have an mg sound, a silicon mould was taken of the turret ventilator as the mg speaker would be mounted underneath a new scale (hollow) ventilator.

For those readers not in the United Kingdom you may not be aware that it is now a criminal offence for a private person to own a firearm. Having been around firearms all my life it is a little strange that crimes with firearms have not reduced since the ban, they have in fact increased some four fold I am informed. My reason for stating this is that as I have already said I intend to have a firing main armament. In view of the neurosis that now prevails here in the UK, I thought it best to consult my County Police Firearms officer as to the legality of what I proposed doing. Having given a lengthy explanation and described the engineering to prevent a projectile being discharged, I was informed that my design and intentions were totally legal! I had demonstrated that I did not intend to modify the blank firing replica gun from the original purpose that it was designed for. I was both surprised and pleased that I could move forward.

I obtained an 8-mm blank firing replica gun. With a high carbon content 6 mm drill I drilled out the hardened steel insert that is cast into the barrel to prevent misuse! This was very hard to do and at $35 US per drill, I only broke 1! The existing vent that is designed to direct the blast upwards was tapped and a grub screw soldered in. The foresight was filed off and a 5-mm hole drilled and tapped all the way through the slide, the frame and the barrel. A piece of turned brass was then fitted into the barrel and joined to the gun by way of a 5 mm cap head screw that went through the slide, the barrel, the brass insert, the barrel again and the frame. These were all mig welded together thus providing a non-removable obstruction in the barrel. (To try to get them out by heat or grinding would cause the gun to melt!)