Jerry Jackson provides an In-Box review of the Bergepanther Sd. Kfz. 179 Armed Recovery Vehicle by Italeri in 1/35. Although OOP, this kit can still be found at a decent price.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Looks like a nice driving compartment. The tracks, which type are they early or late chevron ? Nice review i'm interested in getting one. For the right price !

Jerry

I've made one of those, and you're right, it leaves a lot to be desired. Mine ended up being a bit of a mixture. I used a DML Panther A hull and roadwheels, Fruilmodel tracks, Verlinden interior, Tiger Model Designs crane on the back, and the rest came from the Italeri kit. The timber superstructure was made from very thin wood normally used for boats.

As for the crew, you will find that there are two more seats sideways behind the driver and radio operator (they sit back to back in the centre of the tank). I would strongly recommend the Osprey book on modelling the Panther - it contains a very good "how to" on the Bergepanther.

Have fun

Rob

If they are the same tracks as in their Panther D kit, early or late chevrons, is the last of your problems.
Their tracks are 2 piece vinyly that are very stiff, dont glue together, and the paint flakes off afterwards. Plan on buying some AM tracks or finding somebody who will sell some Dragon panther tracks! Man, I hate Italeri tracks.

Hi

I've always wanted to build this vehicle and apart from the early version ICM kit this kit is the only show in town. By all accounts it isn't very accurate and needs quite a bit of work to get correct, in many cases from what I've read anybody seriously attempting to make an accurate kit will use very little of the Italeri model. Probably best to use it as a rough guide.

Having said that they have announced this is to be re released with PE. I doubt if they've corrected any of the larger errors but it will be interesting to see what the "new" kit has within it.

You'd be better using one of the Dragon Panthers hulls to start with so I've read. Certainly as Frank says the tracks will need replacing.

I did find a few sites relevant to this containing previous builds here

http://www.track-link.net/articles/42
http://www.track-link.net/articles/43

There are a few more examples I've seen but can't find the links again. I believe Phil Stutcinskas created one using his superb skills but I've only seen a couple of pictures of it and again I can't remember where.

The kit really is crying out for a new version to be produced. If somebody such as Dragon, (or even Italeri who are capable ) made a version now I'm sure it would go down a storm with modellers.

For those taking the Italeri kit as a basis and not wanting to do it OOTB then there is quite a bit of work to do.

Alan

I believe this model is based on the Panther Ausf. G, so base the tracks upon that. After market tracks are probably in order based upon what I've read from others. Thanks for commenting!

Rob, thanks for the advice on the reference manual. I’ll look for that, since I’ve really come to like this model, it’ll be worth the investment! Also, thank you for commenting on my review.

Alan, thank you for all the information. I agree, I think if Dragon or Tamiya did the Bergepanther, it would be very popular. Anyone out there listening!!!

The kit has been re-released however the basic contents of the model has not changed, but the addition of a PE fret is a nice addition to the box.

Thanks for the update, both here and as a Reader Review, Darren. I'm a bit surprised that more was not updated in this kit.

The addition of some un-spooled cable drums in one piece rather than two, with a length of soft metal cable would have been a very big improvement. With mine I will scratch new drums and apply my own cable and chain, the addition of these small items would have made this kit much more desirable.

Having built one of these for my collection,i would say that you DEFINATELY need to get the Verlinden resin update set.This includes a new floor panel showing the suspension and it blows away the winch that comes with the kit.

Hi I've bought this kit and now I've hit a brick wall with it. I can't get the upper Hull to line up and fit properly with the lower Hull, has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you sort it?

Did not have any fit problems with mine. In fact those two push plates on the front of the hull; I glued them just to the bottom hull as retainer hooks and did not even have to glue the upper hull on. I just hook it into those two points and then snap it down over the rear engine area.

Look for internal details that might be blocking a proper fit.

I have the Tiger Models Bergepanther conversion for the Dragon Panther. It's sadly no longer in production but it beats the daylights out of the Italeri kit. It's a superb piece of resin engineering.

There was a thread on here a few months back that used that beautiful Tiger conversion kit to create a Bergepanther but now I cannot seem to find it. Wish the conversion set existed back when I did my Italeri Berge. I ended up buying two of the plastic kits in order to get the necessary parts to correct the winch and then scratch building some parts.





(Also added the etch brass detail set as well as individual track links. And I modified the jib crane so it would rotate then added a Tiger Models chain hoist to it.)

There sure is a lot to correct on this one, starting with the nearly-non-existent driver's compartment and going back to the winch and its many-missing parts. Please, Dragon/Trumpeter/Tamiya/ANYONE! Produce a Bergepanther worthy of the build!

Given dragon's recent trend towards charging maximum price for little or no new mold work, I doubt dragon would be interested in making all the new molds needed to fill out the hull of a bergepanther. Tamiya has not seemed interested in this sort of specialty vehicles, ever. Only vague hope is Meng would eventually follow their full interior tiger II with a full interior panther, which could then for a stepping stone to a bergepanther.

I for one decided to give up on this forlorn hope and get tiger model design's resin kit instead.

I agree and add that new comers like Meng and Takom are good candidates. Trumpeter is a maybe also.
AFV Club probably not either b/c they take a long time to release new products (when they do, they are excellent).
Who knows though? Last two years have been full of surprises in this hobby!

We can but hope (as I have been doing now for years!) - but I won't be holding my breath for a Berge anytime soon.

Regards

Rob