Did the early Panther Ausf. A (the tamiya one, old one). have Zimm on it, or was that later versions.

~Chip :-)

very early ones may not have had it they went into production in sept '43 and zimmerit paste
was fitted from late sept/oct on so it is possiable I think for it not to have it maybe some one will correct me

Hey Chip, Panther Ausf. A's did have zimmerit in some instances. He is some refrence for it...

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz4.htm

Cheers

Rob

Most if not all Panther A I've seen in photos had Zimmerit.

Given production dates, an early A might not have zim, but there's no pic of that I know of.

Get out that putty!!

Cheers
Andy

Hi Chip-
Yes the old Tamiya Panther A would have zim. One rule of thumb I use is the bow machine gun mount. If the Panther A has the round ball type hull machine gun mount, the vehicle should have zim... as that type of mount was incorporated in production from December 1943 onwards. The earliest A's (the ones with the flap style machine gun mount did not have zim initially - but many were re-fitted after being damaged and such, so when they were repaired, they got coated in zim. I only have one picture of a Panther A with the kugleblende machine gun mount - without zim. It is a vehicle in French service (captured), so I think the zim was removed.... who knows.

You could always do the zim on the old Panther A as practice before you tackle the stuff on your nice and expensive Tiger! :-)

HTH
Jeff

all panther a lates had zim at least to my knowledge

Is the Zimm that waffle type one or could I just do a plain jane, ridged left to right , application? Like on Tigers.

~Chip :-)

Panthers had both the tile pattern, as well as the standard ridged pattern. It depends on where your Panther was made. The factories had different patterns. Alkett was the only factory that used the "waffle" pattern, and they didn't make any Panthers.

HTH
Jeff

and i'm pretty sure the lines are vertical not horizontal

Panther Ausf A's mostly had a vertical zimmerit pattern..But, The rule of thumb on German armor is there is NO rule of thumb...
I have seen many pics of A's without zimmerit and many with.. And many A's had field applied zimmerit with all different patterns. Same goes for paint jobs.. about the only thing there is you can be pretty sure what the base color was and that's it..
BTW, the ausfD had the letterbox MG opening.. It was the first Panther produced, then the A,G, and F(never actually produced).

Thank you gentlemen for all of your help. I am more confident now than ever. This Panther thing will turn out to be one of the best models that the world has ever seen!

~CHip :-)

True.. the D did have the letterbox machine gun port. But so did the first A's. The distinguishing feature between the D model and the early A is the interlocking joint on the turret armor. On the D this joint was dovetailed, while the A had square interlocking joints. This along with the cupola difference (D's had "dustbin" style and A's had the cast style) marks the change from D to A. According to Osprey's Panther book, at least. Who knows? German vehicles have such a convoluted development history that it is hard to sort it all out. Like you said - there are really no hard and fast rules....

Jeff

Some other difference are rivets in the roadwheels as well as radiator fan differences. Some side stowage and Pistol port details are also important.
I love the Panther,


Andrew

standard ridged pattern .thats what i have seen in most photo;s but also have seen many A;s with out zim at all. Can any body inform us if the zim could be applied while first line fighting the Panthers or only from factory made.?