Jagdpanther

Manufacturer: HäTIndustries (Armourfast) (Kit #99002)

This model took about 15minutes to build, and three months to paint.

As is evident in the Preview for this kit, it was designed withwargamers in mind. It is very simple, with few parts, andconstruction was very quick and easy. Yet despite the simplicityand humble nature of the kit, it is remarkably accurate in mostareas, and in fact, is actually the most dimensionally accurateJagdpanther kit in 1/72nd scale. If you refer to the Previews ofthe Revell and ESCI Jagdpanthers, you will see that the Revellkit has problems with size, and the ESCI kit has problems withaccuracy of its details. This HäT kit measures perfectly 1/72nd,and is an accurate replica of this highly effective tank hunter.

The model represents alate version of the tank hunter (though not the final version)with no tools on the hull sides, the late style bolted guncollar, the pilzen on the superstructure roof, the multi-part gunbarrel, and the protective cover on the vent hole on the enginedeck. All it lacks to make this the final version, is the crewheater added to the left engine ventilation fan. The exhaustpipes are the early style (also seen on late Jagdpanthers), withtwin, single pipes, as opposed to the left pipe having the twosmaller cooling air intake pipes attached. Although they shouldhave had either exhaust shields or flame dampeners added to them.

Unlike HäT's Sherman kit,I did very little to spruce up this model. There really was verylittle that needed to be done, without going full tilt toaccurize it. The main detraction of the model is its runninggear. As seen in the Preview, the wheels and tracks are molded asa single piece, which naturally is inadequate if intended solelyfor a display model. In order to overcome this deficiency, themodeler would need to completely replace the wheels and tracksfrom another Panther/Jagdpanther kit. I chose not to do so, forpurposes of this review.

Aside from the wheels,there are a few minor improvements that can be made within a fewminutes. The engine deck lacks panel lines showing the engineaccess hatch, so I scribed in the hatch myself. Similarly, thetwo hatches on the turret roof also lacked lines separating thetwo halves of each hatch, so I scribed these as well. I alsochose to add some minor brass details from the ExtratechJagdpanther detail set (designed for the Revell kit), such asperiscope covers, and two hatch stops on the engine deck for therear fighting compartment hatch.

Some other styrene detailsI added include four lift hooks on the engine deck, and two towcable mounting pegs on the hull sides. The only"surgery" done to the model was the removal of the lumpof plastic on the left front fender, which was supposed torepresent a Bosch headlight, and I replaced it with a light frommy spares box. The removal of the kit "light" resultedin the loss of the raised detail on the fender, which I remadewith stretched sprue.

And so endeth theconstruction.

Painting Fiasco!

My first attempt atpainting the model ended in disaster. I tried to paint it withTestors Acryl Panzer Yellow (labeled on the jar as Sandgelb).When I poured it into the paint cup for my airbrush, it pouredfrom the jar like molasses. So I thinned it considerably with mystandard thinner mixture of 50/50 distilled water and alcohol.The result was catastrophic, as the following scans of the driedpaint show:

A friend of mine informedme that the problem was that I didn't use the thinner that wasspecifically formulated for the Acryl paints, which I later wentout and purchased. I stripped the paint from the model usingEZ-Off oven cleaner, and cleaned it up as much as I could. Afterabout three months of fuming over the disaster, and getting themodel ready for another attempt, I tried it again. This time, Iused the proper thinner. Also this time, I was intelligent enoughto practice on the insides of the wheel parts. Good thing I did,because the result was the same.

So I threw away that crapthat Testors calls paint, and decided to go back to my oldfavorite of Polly Scale. But unfortunately, my Polly Scale PanzerYellow was old and lumpy; totally unsuitable anymore forairbrushing. I thought I had another jar of it, and whilerummaging through my paint collection, I came across a jar ofTestors Acryl Dunkelgelb (up to this point, I had thought that Iwas using Dunkelgelb in my paint attempts, when in fact I wasusing Sandgelb). Upon opening the jar for inspection, I saw thatthis paint was a completely different consistency than theearlier Acryl garbage; in fact, it closely resembled theconsistency of Polly Scale paints. So I decided to try it, and loand behold, it was magnificent! This paint sprayed so smooth andbeautiful, I wished I had a whole platoon of German tanks readyfor painting. Oddly enough, though, this color has a verygreenish cast to it; very similar to that seen in Jean Restayn'sexcellent artwork. Never one to be fixated on precise colormatches (which is odd, considering my single-minded dedication toscale fidelity), I am going with it. But keep in mind that thescans in this review make it appear much more yellowish, and notnearly as green as it is in reality.

I followed my typicalpainting and weathering techniques of washing, highlighting,drybrushing, and "chalking". The decals came from aKagero Photosniper book on the Panther, and unfortunately,silvered a little bit. From now on, I am going to try first glosscoating portions of the model where decals are to be placed. Iknow that most modelers do this regularly, but I've never seenthe need, since I've never really had problems with decalsilvering. But this paint is VERY flat, so this is a method thatI best embrace.

After I finished paintingand weathering, I decided that some final details should be addedto give a little life to the tank, and those were a couple ofitems on the rear wall of the fighting compartment: a shovel andfire extinguisher from my spares box. This was the standardstowage place for late versions of this tank. Note also thelocation of the gun-cleaning rod storage tube. This is alsocorrect for late war vehicles. Oh, almost forgot: I also added amachinegun to the front hull, which is not included in the kit.

Additional things that Icould have done but chose not to are: some more tools added tothe engine deck, some spare track links and tools on the rearhull corners, engine deck screens, and some improvements to therear hull plate. But all of this was beyond what I was willing todo to finish this in a timely manner (after it spent three monthssitting in limbo, that is).

One area that lacked anysort of detail is the rear hull plate, behind the mufflers. Thereshould be all sorts of access hatches and tools here (such as thejack), but because this plate was molded on an angle, it wasn'tpossible to add this detail. It would have been better to makethe rear hull plate a separate part, so that it could have beenmolded flat, with the appropriate detail. Also, there should belift hooks on the front and rear corners of the hull side plates.

This is a very good model.I have been questioned in the past by a good friend of mine (whoshall remain nameless) about why I give such good reviews to theHäT kits, when they are obviously inferior to Revell orHasegawa. Well, you can agree with me or not, but HäT makes nopretension to producing anything other than what these modelsobviously are: wargaming kits. Keeping that in mind, they areoutstanding wargaming kits, which can easily be built intosomething a little more by those industrious few, who want a moredetailed replica. That, JIM, is why I give them good reviews :)

Thank you to HäT for providing the reviewsample.