Introduction

For a few years now, Paper Panzer Productions has been designing, manufacturing and supplying modelers with high quality, uniquely designed cast resin and photo etch parts and conversions catering to the “What-if” armor genre within the modelling community. Recently Paper Panzer Productions released one of their newest designs, the Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947 conversion turret.

Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947

Not too long ago, I went through a slight shift in personal interest as it pertains to armor modelling. I found the What-if genre pleasing for a number of reasons, one certainly being the imaginative aspects to these types of builds. For the most part, anything goes. Also known as paper panzers, the What-if’s was born from German tank designs that pretty much never left the drawing board in most cases during the Second World War. In some cases a builder might use a personal design in tank development giving us the unique “What-if they did this”.

Recently I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of Paper Panzer Productions latest creation, the Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947 turret. This turret is a cast resin design that can replace turret installed on any of the E-50, E-75 or even the E-100 tank designs offered in styrene kit form from plastic model manufacturers. The turret is supplied in a sturdy flip-top cardboard box. All of the parts included in this kit are nestled within a bed of packing peanuts with all of the smaller parts sealed within a small Ziploc-type bag. There are twenty-four pieces that make up this multi-media conversion set.

Contents

• 1 – Grey colored resin turret
• 1 – Grey colored resin turret base plate
• 1 – Grey colored resin mantlet
• 3 – Cast resin cupolas
• 1 – Cast resin cupola hatch
• 2 – Cast commander’s periscopes
• 7 – Cast resin vision blocks
• 3 – Cast resin lift rings
• 1 – Cast resin gunners optics visor
• 2 – Lengths of copper wire
• 1 – Turned brass antenna
• 1 – Turned aluminum gun barrel

The bulk of this kit reside in the turret construction. The turret has basically been molded in one complete cast representing a plausible steel-cast turret. Paper Panzer incorporated side-wing infrared detector design molded directly into the cast sides of the main turret. The top plate to the turret is represent in a flat steel plate design with a bolted on cover plate above the gunner’s optics located on the front of the turret. There is one vision block plate and one antenna mount molded into the top plate.

The commander’s cupola is provided separately from the turret. There are actually three options for the cupola. There is one large cupola with vision block molded into the design and the hatch in the closed position. There is a second cupola which has openings to receive the provided cast resin vision block…or clear styrene vision blocks that come with the base model kit. There is a hatch provided separately, with some interior features to allow the modeler to depict the hatch in the open position. The third cupola is a low-rise early version with openings for the vison blocks. This cupola also receives the provided hatch with the option to show the hatch open or closed.

There are two version of commander’s rotating observation periscope. There is a spot for either of these periscopes molded into front side of the larger closed hatch cupola. There are no rules that apply here, so either of the periscopes can be used and can either be mounted to the larger closed cupola or directly to the flat top plate to the turret. The mantlet for the gun is a separate cast piece. Like the outer surface to the turret, the mantlet has a cast texture design to the surface. There are casting numbers molded into the mantlet and there is a pre-opened hole for receiving the gun barrel. The provided gun barrel, a 8.8cm KwK 44 L/100, slide into the mantlet with very little play making for a secure fit once glued in place.

There are two options for applying lift rings to the turret. Here are three cast resin versions included in the kit as well copper wire which can be used to scratch build your own. The two pieces of copper wire included in this kit as different thicknesses. While there is nothing suggesting which to use for the lift rings, most likely the thicker of the two would be regulated for these parts. The second piece of wire could be used for any grab handles that might be installed by the build in any location of their choosing.

Conclusion

The Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947 turret from Paper Panzer Productions is beautifully designed conversion that fits right into the What-if category of model building. The turret and accompanying resin parts have been cast very well rendering the parts crisp and with the exception of one of the cupolas provided, free from flash. There are some casting block remnants still in place on most of the parts which is typical in almost all cast resin parts and clean up quickly. I did notice two extremely tiny air bubble in the surface of the turret as well as a large sink hole on the underside of the turret. The tiny bubbles are easily filled with modelling putty or even a dab of superglue. The sin mark on the bottom of the turret is no issue at all as this is a flush mount turret and will never be seen after installation on a hull. One minor note, although the barrel on a tank design like this would have limited elevation capabilities, the barrel and mantlet are basically set in one elevated position. There is possible solution which would be to a simply sand the back of the mantlet attachment point if someone so desired.

There were no instructions included with this kit, however, the placement of the parts is easy to figure out. If help is needed there are a couple of photographs of built samples located on the Paper Panzer Productions website; or feel free to reference any of the pictures contained within this review. The Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947 turret is a fantastic what-if conversion that nicely detailed and well-made. This turret can be used right out of the box as defined by the manufacturer’s design or would make for a fine base to incorporate your own personal scratch built parts. If you are into building what-if builds or simply want to add something different to one of your armor builds, the Einheitsturm Reichswerke Hermann Göring 1947 will certainly meet the grade.