Panther A

Manufacturer:ESCI (ESCI/Ertl #8363; Revell #2326; Aurora #6204; ESCI #8026)

For a longtime, this was the only kit available of the Panzer V Ausf. APanther. But then Revell AG issued a kit in 1997 of the PantherD/A, which can build into either version. Both kits have strongpoints, as well as a couple of weaknesses. ESCI's kit is verywell molded, and has abundant detail. The dimensions scale out alittle large against plans in the Achtung Panzer volume on thePanther family of tanks. The hull is about 1/70th in width, and1/71st in length, which is not too bad. But the turret face (andgun mantle) is way too wide. The Revell kit's dimensions are moreaccurate.

The turretand hull have a surface texture reminiscent of cast metal, i.e.not completely smooth and polished. While this looks very good onthe completed model, it doesn't help much with smooth decalplacement. I like how ESCI molded each pioneer tool separately.If you've read many of my reviews, you'll recall that this is apersonal preference of mine. There are tool racks that attach tothe hull, and the tools attach to the racks. Some of the toolsare formed a little heavy, so they stick out from the hull some,but some delicate sanding and smoothing will help thisconsiderably.

My maincomplaint about this kit are the open sponsons above the tracksand wheels. Pick up the model, and you can look right up into thevehicle. Also, one can look down through the engine deck gratesand see out the sides of the vehicle. The builder would do wellto blank off these areas. As I mentioned, the deck grates aremolded open, through the hull. Other detail on the hull is verywell done, as is the gun barrel lock on the forward hull. Theonly option for the exhaust pipes is the single pipe on theright, and the triple pipes on the left.

Allhatches can be open or closed, including the driver's and radiooperator's hatches on the hull, and the commander's and rear ammoloading hatch on the turret. A fairly decent AA machinegun isincluded on the sliding ring mount around the commander's hatch,and the hull machinegun consists of the entire gun that sticksthrough the hull, not just a barrel that glues into a hole.

Anotherdrawback of this kit, and one area in which the Revell kittotally surpasses this one, are the tracks. The wheels are verygood, but the tracks are very short of detail. Even the hardplastic tracks, which I used on my kit, are poor. The exteriorsare mediocre, but the inside surface is completely smooth; noteven lines demarcating the individual links. I had thoughts ofduplicating the nice Revell tracks for use on my ESCI Panthers,but the Revell kit has an incorrect number of teeth on thesprocket wheel (unlike the ESCI kit), so the guide holes in thetrack are not the proper distance apart, and consequently, thelinks are too large. The spare track links included in this kitfor the rear hull are fairly poor as well.

The onlyalteration I made to my kit was replacing the hatch handles withbrass wire. (I noticed after taking new photos of this kit, abouttwo years after I first posted this review, that I hadinadvertantly switched the two hull hatches - ouch!). It waspainted with Polly Scale Panzer Yellow and Panzer Olive Green.The kit decals, as always, were printed out of register, so Ireplaced them with some Microscale decals. After using somesetting solution, and finishing off with clear flat, the kit wascomplete. I really cannot say which kit I prefer, the ESCI orRevell, as either one will build into a very fine replica of thePanther A.