Panther Ausf. G

Manufacturer: Revell AG.

By Michael Hatch .

Here are some shots of mykit-bashed Revell AG's late production Panther G.

This Panther is meant torepresent a vehicle from some unknown unit on either the Easternor Western fronts during the winter of 44/45. It carries factorycamouflage with only the bare essential marking with no unitdistinctions.

The kit was a prettystraight forward build. I got cold feet when I got to mountingthe Tiger's steel wheels because I was not sure if they wouldmatch up with the Panther's tracks. I wasn't even sure if thesteel wheels used on these two vehicles were one and the same(I'm still not) but after four months I figured, "what thehell" and got on with it. Other than fashioning plasticdowels to mount the outer wheels to the inner ones, it was asimple substitution of the steel for the rubber rimmed roadwheels. I was very happy with the end result.

I also used the hull MGbarrel and the towing shackles from Revell AG's Tiger I kit. Thesupplied MG34 barrel didn't impress me and the Tiger's is simplybeautiful. No towing shackles were provided with the Panther. Iadded a seventh periscope on the commander's cupola by shavingoff the rear two, repositioning them to make room and gluing onan additional one taken from the Tiger I E kit. (It looks OK butI suspect the gaps between them aren't quite right.) Extra tracklinks were stolen from my Revell AG Panther D/A kit.

I also used some of thebits from Eduard's photoectched Panther G set. Namely; the hullspare track holders, the MG ring on the commander's cupola,engine intake grills, exhaust mounts and the side skirts. Therest struck me as being way too fiddly for my taste, so I didn'tuse them.

I repositioned both thekit supplied jack and barrel cleaning rod case. Extra track wasmounted on the turret's sides for additional armour protection. Ialso added an additional periscope to the turret roof just infront of the commander's cupola. (I am unsure if this is accuratebut I've seen various line drawing to suggest that some vehicleshad one there. Please note that I haven't seen a photograph ofthis periscope but its a risk I'm willing to take.)

Handles were fashionedfrom soft steel wire and the lifting rings are brass rod bent toshape. The antenna is also soft steel wire. Jerry cans, the crateand ammo tins are Leva resin. The tow cables were made by usingthe eyelets from the kit's tow cables with thick thread dipped inHumbrol steel paint replacing the cable. The crew commander isone of the typical ESCI figures.

This is only the fourthkit I have used an airbrush on. I've been spraying free hand andI find that I get a fair amount of overspray which I touch up viahand brushing. Again, I'm happy with the results. I used the kitsupplied crosses and used white outlined numbers from some otherkit's decal sheet. I used a ton of decal softener on the turretnumbers to get them to conform to the track links. Whenthoroughly dry, I hand painted the number's interior with red tohelp them stand out.

Weathering wasaccomplished with various water colour washes, pencils and pastelchalk dust.

Things that I still wantto do to this model include adding a machine gun muzzle in theappropriate opening in the mantle, giving it a dusting of snow,and mounting a half dozen hearty Panzer Grenadiers on the enginedeck.

All things considered, Iam very happy with the finished model. Construction proceedpretty much as I thought it might and with the benefit of 20/20hindsight I would not change the way I built this kit.

Reference includedSquadron's "Panther In Action", Osprey's Vanguard #21"The PzKpfw V Panther", AFV Profile #10"Panzerkampfwagen V Panther" and various Concordpublication on German Armoured Formations.