O.K. It seems this kit has reached the status of "it, who's name shall not be mentioned". I've never heard why it has earned this anti-Christ reputation. Anybody care to share?

Have not seen it myself but this paragraph from Terry Ashley at PMMS is quite descriptive...

Dragon first released a kit of the Panther Ausf.G “Night Fighting Panther” (kit #9045) back in the Shanghai/Dragon Imperial Series days in 1997 and it’s no wonder some want to forget about it as it is from a past era in terms of quality/accuracy and is best not spoken of again.

Can I give a few words of advice,don't even bother with this.Yes there was nightfighting Panthers towards the end of the war but the ausf.G DID NOT have this equipment setup.Also the rest of the kit is really HORRIBLE!!!!!

The Night fighting panther had a couple of tragically overlapping flaws.

It was based on bad research for the three set IR setup, which was then 'documented' in the Trojka books.
That said, the IR parts are useful for other Paper panzer projects, providing three sets of viewing scopes (driver, gunner and commander), mounting bases, and the projector lamps to go with them for use in '46 Paper Panzer projects.

It was part of the Dragon 'Imperial' series, later the 'Shanghai Dragon series', that were not Dragon's molds. Before we had Dragons "Black Death" label, we had the Imperial Series... I think I heard at one time that the kit was based on the ancient Gunze Panther molds without the white metal parts and the addition of the fictional IR gear.

There are dimensional issues with the turret size, location on the hull and height for rear hull deck clearance.

It is not as good of a kit as the old Tamiya Panther G kits, but it is better than the Ancient Tamiya Panther A. The later Dragon 'smart kit' Panther G's are much better.
As a testbed or a practice kit, it's buildable and looks like a Panther G when it is done.

My US$0.002, your mileage may vary.
Mike