Thank you for the very helpful review.

I too would like to see a better Panther II kit.

If possible, could you explain more about this barrel extender on the MP44 assault rifle? I'm a little perplexed about this as the Osprey book illustrates a MP44 muzzle protruding thru the ball mount.

Thanks for the reply!

Another problem I have with the MP44 ball mount, is that at cursory examination, it appears so far set back that the butt would likely clobber the crewman in the face. It doesn't look very practical as such and I am very curious to know the source of information by which Cyber-Hobby came up with this configuration. On the other hand, maybe it sits no further back than an MG34...

I'd seen that resin Panther II on their site. It's a bit expensive. I'll wait for what's probably the inevitable Cyber-Hobby Panther II.

Hmmm... Not good about the track hangers. I have an unbuilt Tamiya Panther. I wonder if I could use something from that...

Well, I suppose I'll get to starting my first Panther F. I may have mentioned this here before, but I purchased two. One to finish in overall olivgrun and the second in a three-color camo finish. For that one, I intend to mimic the three-color camo on the Schmalturm that was sent to England. Again, I seriously have to wonder about a turret in such a finish. I am by no means an expert, but common sense and the photographic evidence seems to dictate that most camo painting was done AFTER assembling turrets to hulls and not before...

I feel like I really need to find out about the MP44 ball mount, but information is utterly lacking.

Regarding the Schmalturm sent to the UK, to me it appears to be painted first in olivgrun, then dunkelgelb was added, then rotbraun on top.

A friend that has a Ph.D in history said something that always stuck with me. He said that very often in history, we just do not know what happened...

So when I see certain papal pronouncements about this is impossible and that never happened, they never did this and couldn't do that, I think of similar pronouncements about historical surprises like the Maus.

I used to have the color photos from D-B on my computer, but that crashed a ways back and I just haven't had time to do the recovery work. Always back up on CD, huh?

My intention is to model Fs that emerged from the factory in the very last day or two, so I'm trying to be as faithful as I can to all the late details that were applied to G hulls for instance.

I'm also curious to know if very late Panther Gs leaving D-B had the full compliment of tools, spare track, cables, etc. It seems that with a desperate battle raging close by, such accoutrements would be superfluous and unnecessary.

Now about this Tiger II in the July '45 camo? What is this? Any link?

Eight . . . Oct . . . Octopus!

Will you be finishing your Panther F with the octopus camo?

Great review with lots of great historical information helping the builder to produce an accurate vehicle.

Thanks for the time and effort that obviously went into this review.

Now I am at a loss about the Octopus camouflage But I am very interested. Could somebody please fill me in

EDIT: I found a post here at the forum where a King Tiger has been made in the octopus pattern. Apparently a hard edged green and dark yellow King Tiger with dark green "rings" over the dark yellow. Did I get that right?

Some of the photos from D-B illustrate a Panther hull or two in welding jigs, so it's possible to see the bottom of the hulls. Are there any of these photos in color? Are they the greenish-grey color you describe?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that some Panther hull bottoms were left in a red primer.

On another note, I'd hope that someone would come up with a Panther F interior aftermarket kit, but that's probably unlikely as the C-H Panther F is a limited edition kit and secondly, a lot of the interior details, particularly regarding the Schmalturm, are probably unknown anyway...

Hmmm... Not good about the track hangers. I have an unbuilt Tamiya Panther. I wonder if I could use something from that...

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Hmmm... Not good about the track hangers. I have an unbuilt Tamiya Panther. I wonder if I could use something from that...

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The kit comes with p/e ones as well. The kit tracks fit it, but the pins wont be able to go on, on the otherhand, using the p/e racks along with some Friul spare links, they fit perfect and the pins will go in as well.