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Building a 1:8 Scale Panther: Part 1

First Impressions

After some weeks I collected the Panther from his home one Saturday morning. One getting it home and ‘lifting the lid’ my overall first impression was its overall crudeness. The construction is mainly in GRP. The overall quality of the mouldings is very strong but was in some areas very, very poorly laid up. The suspension units are of mild steel whose springs reminded me of the bedsprings in our old Army beds.

The raised detail on the deck and rear plate depicts the final mark of Panther 1, the Ausf. G. On careful examination and measurement, the side angles of the armour plate are that for the earlier Panther, the Ausf. A. (The Germans in 1944 realised that the Panther design was a ‘winner’ and developed probably the best tank destroyer of WW2, the JagdPanther. It was necessary to decrease the angle of the then side armour to facilitate the mounting of the ‘box like’ structure to permit the mounting of the 88 mm gun and the Ausf. G was created).

What to do? I have an eye for detail and to me things have to be right, no half measures. Two choices. Either replace the side armour or convert the G detail into an Ausf. A. I chose the latter as:

1. The A version had Zimmeritte applied, the G version normally not
    

2. The A version had a more interesting exhaust system lending itself to working exhausts.
    

3. The turret mantle on the A did not have the later ‘chin’ fitted to the G and thereby kept the graceful lines of the turret.

The first thing I realised was I needed books by the half dozen on the Panther. I ended up by buying 9 at a cost of some $250 US.