i was given dml night fighting panther and i would like to know if it a good kit to build or is the any problems with it. also besides the ir equipment there’s nothing different between a normal panther g and a night fighting one.
also what unit had these night fighting panthers ??
thanks Az[8]
It is the old mold DML Panther G. It went together very well. It comes with PE screens and such, and clear parts sprues for all the IR equipment and mounts. The only problem with it is that it does not come with the “box” that is mounted on the right rear of the hull for the IR equipped versions, you will have to scratch build it. I didn’t include the “box” on my build as I could not find any decent photos of what it would look like or how it was mounted.
I modeled my tank on the ambush pattern night fighter found in the Osprey “Panther Variants '42 -'45”. It only shows the IR scope mounted on the cupola.
There are accounts of special IR kampfgruppe that were assembled in the last couple of weeks of the war that engaged Soviet forces at night, but they cannot be verified.
Good luck,
Steve
thanks for the info steve ive read that some where used in the battle for berlin
PG there is only one common pic of the Panther fitted out with IR gear, but that was taken after the war when the US Army assembled some components and fitted them to a captured G, although it has often been touted as a “Genuine German” wartime photo.
One of the musuems has a panther fitted with the complete IR package, but again this was assembled well after the war.
For info on units see this site:
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/ir.htm just be careful as they mention that it was doubtful solution B was fielded then later say that the 116th was outfitted with solution B at the Ardennes.
The DML IR Panther is like their E100, Coellian, Kugelblitz, etc, kits they released - 'what if ’ models. I believe the fit around the rear engine deck intakes is a little suspect on this kit, and the tracks have solid guide horns, but it builds up nice. For a good article on building that kit including the pic mentioned above and pics of the 251 IR equipped vehicles see:
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/dio/rwpanth/rwpanth.htm
Hey did you enjoy QMHE? I hear there was a little commotion Sunday Arvo, at the awards ceremony, when one guy spat the dummy for not winning a medal.
If your going to do the kit as a nightfighter ive seen a model of shields added on the back to keep the nightfighting Soldiers on the back safe (looks cool)
theres also stories of German Tanks in Berlin painted green with a white ring around the turret to look like the Russian tanks
I’m working on mine right now, I went out and got Fruils because the tracks were garbage… if you were lucky like me, you’ll see that your kit did NOT come with PE grilles. Yeah it’s an old mold, and well, I can’t compolain I’ve payed 20 bucks for this kit, and it’s alright! Umm there are some major over hauls and filling you’ll have to do on the back top of the hull. There are umm grooves I guess just under the right engine fan grille, also on the back of the tank where it meets the top of the hull there are two more grooves that’ll need to be filled. I have been working on my kit for 2 or 3 months, and I have learned alot about the Panther, I have grown to love this Voice in the Shadows!
a good book to read on the fighting in Berlin is “Armor Battles of the Waffen SS:1943-45” by Will Hoy, i dont know how true it is but its a good read of the stuggle for Berlin (only the last chapter is on Berlin)
James.
ive just picked up the tankpower book on the JagdPanther today[:D]
its a great book[:D] Im now waiting for the new Panther 8 to come out[:)]
keep us posted on your panthers PG and James
thanks guys.
petbat i went saturday to the qmhe i spent most of the time buying stuff from firestorm lol, there were some great dio’s there im already planning my dio for next years show.
CDNTANKER mine didnt come with PE either but since the kit didnt cost me anything i’ll get some PE and some fruils for it aswell(with Fruils do u have to drill out the holes in the tracks more??) and i’ll also get a JR Barrel aswell
CAPTAIN CAVEMAN I’ve been chasing that book for awhile but when i ask at the book store they say the book is out of production .
I might even just make this panther into a normal one coz i scored dry transfer for a panther G of the Hitler Jugend.
thanks Again guy for all the info
Az
if you meen the Will Hoy book ask him to get the Stackpole one ISBN 0-8117-2905-2
its recently been reissiued by Stackpole http://www.stackpolebooks.com/cgi-bin/StackpoleBooks.storefront
I’ll post some Progress pics tomorrow after work
yeah you do have the bore them out, and removed the flash in the guild teeth holes. other than that, the fruils do make the tank look more realistic in my eyes!
as promised… I hope the pics work! This is what I have accomplished… I don’t have a drill bit small enough in my pin vise to bore out the tracks just yet, you guys know what size I need to do this? I’m using straight pins as the track pins, seems a good match! Still more battle damage as this kit will be part of a dio on the battle of Berlin.
Enjoy, and hope this helps man, you’ll see the areas I’ve needed to fill and still need to fill as the pics have shown me!
This has the Verlinden Detail set, but it was made for Tamiya. I still need to get barrel for it as well as some extra track racks as the provided one don’t seem to be any good. I still need to add the grilles, buuuttt… they only came in a mesh wire screen kind of thing, very accurate, but kind of a pain in the butt, I guess I"m a stickler for punishment heh. I still have to beat it up a bit too! hope this helps!
I also want to add some shrapnel guards, does anyone make them steve or Captain?
dam CDN it looks as if its coming up well i just hope mine will look as good at that stage lol
good work keep it up buddy
James, it looks like you are going all out on your Panther.
Peter, I was very interested in your comment concerning the ONE photo of the Panther G as being post war. I had the impression that it was a German photo. It certainly conflicts with the information in the Osprey “Panther Variants” reference. May I ask where you found that information?
Regards,
Steve
yeah this really is my first attempt at AM stuff and I figured an older kit would love some updating. Though I think I messed up, there looks like a weld bead on the gun mantlet, and it seems I scraped it off thinking it was flash, though I don’t see it on some pics of the tank in particular!
Often missquoted in books. Spielberger displaced the myth in at least one of his books and quoted an Official US Army memo regarding the fit out operation and also the US Army number applied to the photo.
If you look at the caption on the pic in Panther Variants (page 9) no comment as to it being a genuine wartime photo - in fact they do not say anything about the pic and do not quote the official source of the photo.[:D] A cheeky way out I suppose.
Peter,
Yes I see what you mean - prefacing the caption with “starting in late 1944, some Panther Ausf. G were fitted with the StuG 1250…” This automatically leads one into supposing the photo is German. The Osprey publications annoyingly don’t provide a bibliography, so references aren’t really validated. Thank you again for your information, it is most appreciated.
Steve