I am building the Dragon/DML Panther G Night fighting [late] model and would like to know, did the Panther G's have steel wheels or did they have the rubber on them?

Not sure of the date, but the change from rubber to all steel was made during Panther AusfG production, so either would be applicable. As the infra-red gear was very late in the war, I would have thought that steel was most likely here, but I don't know what's supplied in the kit, Dragon's research is usually quite sound.

Steel wheel usage on the Panther G was somewhat of an experiment and there were very few that had them actually. If you are using the IR gear, to my knowledge none of the Panthers that used the IR setup (it is thought, a very limited number in the Berlin area at the end of the war) had the steel wheels. I'm at work right now so I can't check my refs but I'm pretty sure on this.

Mike

Hi Wolf-leader
As far as I am aware steel roadwheels were only tried experimentally on a small number of early Panther G's.As Kelley has said a certain number were turned out towards the end of the war with steel wheels on the rear station only,it's not known whether this was because of a shortage of rubber tyred wheels or an attempt to reduce wear on that station.
HTH
Pete

No IR panthers photographed and in distribution today show Steel wheels, as far as I know..
how's that for a definate answer :-)

Also, DML's 3-set IR is a fantasy under the same caveat as above. No known pictures exist of it. The "solution B" is fictional, based on a doctored photo.

The total number of full set steel wheeled panthers was less than 30, and fewer still were photographed with only a last station SW.

I'm a big missing links fan, slide over there, and search the archives of the WWII Axis discussion group. But PLEASE, dont ask before searching. It's been hashed over and over.
Also be sure to post a real name and email address even if the N54 boilerplate says it's optional.

Drop me a pm if you have panther Q's, I'm a bit of a nutter for them.



Mike