Hello all,
I have just started on this kit & would like to have the following verified. The steel wheels in this kit are the smaller 800mm diameter as fitted to Tiger & Tiger II. The standard Panther road wheel had a diameter of 860mm. All of the references I can find including Speilberger state that the steel road wheels fitted to Panther Gs were also 860mm, & that the only Panther to be fitted with the smaller 800mm wheels was the prototype Panther II which was to share as many common componants with the Tiger II as possille.
Dragon's 6268 late Panther also gives the 800mm steel wheel as an option for the rear wheels, but all the photos I can find show the 860mm wheels fitted.
The Tamiya & even the original Dragon steel road wheel kits give the larger 860mm wheels. Has Dragon made a big mistake or were any Panther Gs ever fitted with the smaller steel wheels?

Cheers,

Carl.

no mistake....steel wheels are 800 mm in diametar.for sure

Spielberger got it wrong in his original work (and the Schiffer translation), though more recent German editions may be corrected. The steel wheels came in only one size, 800 mm, for Panther, Tiger I (late) and King Tiger. Panther wheels differed only in the hubs. The Jentz & Doyle Panzer Tracts book on the Panther G is the current gold standard in technical references. Available direct from the publisher or from some hobby dealers and Amazon resellers.

Just as the other replyers have said, the steel wheels were 800mm in diameter, so the new DML kits are right, the Tamiya one isnt.

Hello all, thanks for the replies. It’s frustrating to find that several authors of expensive reference books have all repeated the same mistake over the years. Time to junk the Tamiya & some of the older Dragon Panther kits in my collection.

Live & learn.

Cheers,

Carl.