Hi,

I've been wanting to build a Panther G for a while now but the market seems to be flooded with them (Tamiya / Dragon / AFV). Before I go out to buy a kit I thought I'd pick your brains first!
I haven't decided which one to go for so, firstly, I'd like to know about the timeline for when these tanks were produced. As you all know the market has early model, late model & latest model versions available!
Secondly, I quite like the zimmerit coating idea so I've been looking at the Dragon #6384 kit. Is this a realistic looking rendition or should I buy the aftermarket zimmerit sets? (Is this tank early, late, latest? Eastern Front or Western Front?)
What about aftermarket gear? Metal barrels, PE sets, individual tracks (metal, resin, plastic?)commanders cupola, gun mantlet, etc, etc.
Thanks guys. I look forward to hearing from you with your thoughts on this subject.

Joe.

Best G you get with Dragon.

Tamiya's G is pretty old and far not as good as from Dragon. I´ve never heard about a Panther G from AFV Club.

Zimmerit: on earlier Gs. From what i've seen about the molded Zimmerit , it doesn´t look bad.
Other aftermarket sets: There are a looot of them for Panthers

Hi Joe,

I am no Panther expert and cannot help with timelines or which factory the tank came from but.....

Dragon Panther G #6268 (no zim) and Panther G #6370 (no zim, steel road wheels and "normal" road wheels included) both seem to be rated highly on this site. There are heaps of aftermarket for both, so you can detail to your hearts content. I have built both semi OOB and they were great kits. Others can debate whether they are 100% perfectly accurate or not, depends what you enjoy.

I have not built or bought Dragon #6384 but judging from other Dragon offerings with Zim it should be very good. Of course you can get a more random and damaged finish by doing it yourself on one of the other kits above?

Was there a specific vehicle or camoflage pattern type you were keen on?

Cheers

Jon

Thanks for your replies, fellas.
Interesting to hear what you have to say.
Jon, there is no specific vehicle that I'd like to build but I'm quite interested in reproducing the German "ambush" camouflage scheme. Is that what some people call "dapple cammo"? And am I correct in saying that this cammo scheme was used at Normandy?

Joe.

Hey Joe ... ok this is gonna be a long one lol ... the Panther G was the last of the full production Panthers .. Ausf. G ,,how many built,,2,953 ,,years of use,,3/44 to 4/45 ..1944-09-09 ,it was ordered that Zimmerit application was to cease imidiately so you would be looking for a Panther from around the early to mid production stage ..the latest version wouldn't have it and i have seen many pics of late and latest production Panthers without zimmerit .
The Dragon one is a very nice kit and a pleasure to build too
Don't worry to much about which front the Panther served as zimmerit was used in both places .first used on the eastern front against the Russians but seen on the western front to but it was not common at all .my guess would be tanks taken from the eastern front now fighting on the western front .
Now to AM stuff ,, theres heaps of it .. Luckymodel has 21 pages of bits for the Panther and Hobby easy has 5 pages with a ton of stuff just for the Panther .so your pretty well sorted there . fact you could go completely nuts with the amount of AM there is for the Panther .
As for tracks the most realistic would be Friulmodel but the only set of theirs i can find are for a Ausf D model tank , but this also depends on which you want to work with ..metal tracks such as Friulmodel ones can be annoying if you've never worked with them before ..plastic ones are much easier and when done right can look just as good ,,like Modelkasten ..but neither are cheap ..also depends on how much you want to spend .Bronco do a late set of workable tracks for the Panther and they are much cheaper than the other two but again like i said ..how much do you want to spend .
Check out hobbyeasy and take alook at their pages on the Panther .then you can see what you will need and how far you want to go
Heres a link for ya ..
http://www.hobbyeasy.com/cgi-bin/i8_user_page.cgi?a=advance_search_result&page_size=10&page_number=1&keyword=Panther+&category_code=AF35U
and heres a link for luckymodel
http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?search=Y&q_brand=&q_category=&q_scale=35&q_word=Panther&q_show_instock_only=N

Theres enough bits there to drive you utterly nuts

Hope this will help ya out mate

Cheers Phill

Joe,

I am not sure about Normandy, but I do know the "ambush" scheme was seen on Panthers and Tiger II's in the Ardennes. However, have a look at the Bison decals sets as they show various camo schemes, and there are some Normandy specific sets that include panthers.

My gut feeling is that the ambush scheme was only seen later in the war.

Jon

Hi Phill,

Thanks for your help. I'm checking out ebay at the moment & I see what you mean about the amount of AM products on sale! Lots & lots!
I'll check out those links you sent through in a bit.

Jon, Thanks for the heads up on the "ambush" cammo. Thinking about it, I'll probably reproduce a G model during the Ardennes Offensive.
So, then, for late December 1944 do I need early or late Panther tracks & do I need steel rimmed wheels or not? What about idler & drive wheel? Are the kit parts good to go?

Thanks for your help guys.

Joe.

Hi Joe,

If you are going to build an ardennes panther G I would suggest starting with Dragon's Panther G Late smart kit (6268). It includes most of the features you need for this time frame. You will however need to make sure you use the full set of rubber rimmed wheels. They are stated as optional in the kit so you will need to pay attention to the instructions! You will also need to get some replacement exhausts as the kit only includes the flame dampening versions. Of course there is plenty of am for this kit so you can detail it as much or as little as you want. For the tracks you will need the late version.

Heres a nice picture of an ardennes panther G which shows the exhausts you will need.



Cheers
Matt

@joegrafton - Joe,

If your interested here's a link to the Panther Campaign that's scheduled to begin at the beginning of next month. You could fit your build into the time-frame of the campaign as it runs for a year and have lots of fun with those participating. Same goes for anyone else that has posted or reading this!

Also here's another link that you may find interesting, with plenty of information on the Panther, in case you don't already know about it.

Hope to see you there,
-Eddy

Hello again,

Okay, I've gone with the Dragon Models #6384 Panzer V ausf G with zimmerit. This is, apparently, an early model G. I've bought the Alliance Modelworks PE set #35054 for the Dragon model (thanks, Eddy, for the link).
Thanks Matt, for the great photo. I'll probably get the late model G at a later date. I've got my eye on one already - just depends on whether I can get the right price for it!

There's just a few questions I need clarifying if anyone can help.
So, as I'm going to be building the early G with zimmerit, am I correct in saying I need the late Panther tracks as opposed to the early ones?

I want to depict a Waffen SS tank, ideally with red numbers on the turret just to add a little colour to the model. Can anyone help with a time & place that would give me an SS Panther early G with a zimmerit coating AND red letters on the turret? I'm not too worried about which front the tank was fighting on but I'll need to know where & when for the figures I'm going to add. I dont want to give the vehicle a crew that was wrapped up in cold weather clothing for the Ostfront if the vehicle in question was fighting during the summer months in the west.

Thanks for any help, guys.

Joe.