Following the completion of our Renault FT and our Renault TSF we are now ready to gather together all the detail to deal with the restoration of hull of our second Jagdpanther. Currently this hull is in many pieces stored in various locations in the grounds around our workshops. The main image is of this actual Jagdpanther in the MNH assembly line at war's end - please refer to the number stencilled on to the hull wanne side ending in 110. This is 303110 - our second Jagdpanther!!!
The sections of chassis sides which are seriously damaged or missing require replacing. For the chassis sides we have managed to obtain original drawings that are fully dimensioned. These have been redrawn using our AutoCAD system. Once these drawings are complete in CAD we will start the same process on the missing upper hull side sections.
We must re-evaluate whether we can use the previously rejected hull sections which were deemed to be too badly damaged in the first Jagdpanther project. The problem with these original parts are that distortions in the remaining plate sections. Grafting in a new middle section might yet again prove too much of a task and the resulting side plate may never be flat.
The plan is to pull together all the surviving panels and reassemble the Jagdpanther hull. The front plates will either need to be stripped from the remaining chassis sides parts or possibly cleaned, as is, and new side sections added to the existing side panels.
As can be imagined every panel making up a Jagdpanther hull is very heavy. A new workshop gantry crane must be built into our workshop to facilitate this heavy reconstruction. This is very exciting as the presence of such a gantry will render many previously difficult tasks easy making the teams lives much more agreeable during future projects.
The myriad of pieces and components which accompany this Jagdpanther, including gearbox, engine, cooling tower, swing arms, wheels, tracks, final drives and sprocket wheels, is extensive. This work will take place after we have finished the hull. A full inventory will then be undertaken.
The reassembly of this Jagdpanther hull (Fahrgestell Nummer 303110) will free up an enormous amount of space and provide a clear route for future restoration. We do not intend to complete the full restoration of this second Jagdpanther in one go as this would be a 7 to 10-year project. Our restoration schedule means that we must concentrate on our existing list of restoration candidates
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