I am planning a panther conversion

I am going to build the command panther with the Pz IV turret

Can anyone tell me which panther model (A or D) and which kit would be the best for the conversion

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Billy
aka
T-55A

Billy
From the only pic/drawing I can find here

Panther


I would say that t was based on a panther D chassis purely because it's shown as having the mudguard extensions on the front. Now these (as far as I know) were only fitted to Panther D's and were discontinued because they caused problems when attaching tow cables.

The best Panther D about right now is the DML kit.

HTH
Pete

The Panther with the Pz IV turret was a Bergpanther D of the 653rd, not a command tank.

The following quote is from the Achtung Panzer website :




So it appears that the conversion was done on a Bergepanther chassis, and used as a command tank. Note that the turret was bolted on.
Interesting conversion.

Cheers
Henk

I'm not so sure it was a comamnd tank. I have the JJF history of the 653rd at home, I will check it when I get there.

Ok, I checked the book. It is listed as being used as both a recovery vehicle - one blurly pic of it in that capacity, and also as a staff comand vehicle. So I guess Its whatever you want to build it as.

The 653rd received a Bergepanther Ausf D, which is nothing more than a Panther with the turret removed and covered with a wooden hatch andthe vehicle was used to tow disabled vehicles. The Ausf D was replaced by the Ausf A, which had the deck changed to accept a winch to pull vehicles out of ditches or mud for recovery. When The 653 received the newer Bergepanther, the other was rather useless and on the eastern front you want vehicles that can fight, so the maintenance section built a number of interesting conversions, One was the Panzer IV turret bolted to the bergepanther Ausf D chassis. I don't know if the vehicle scored any kills or how long it survived.

The same unit received the Tiger(P) as a command tank and it was used for six months before being lost, don't know how that happened either or what that tank's success was in combat.

Another interesting Panther conversion was a quad 20mm AA gun on another Bergepanther Ausf D and a T34 chassis.

Is this a prototype?
Very interesting.

Maby I'm convinced to build this too...