It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Work hasn’t been kind to me and my twenty month old boy is a little cyclone! Needless to say, I’ve got another project on the way and it should arrive in mid December. It’s a 1/16 scale Panther G kit from ETO Armor and Wecohe that I’ll be upgrading to full option. Yes, this is the latest in my big tank collection after building a Tamiya Tiger I, mid-version, Sherman, Easy Eight conversion, King Tiger, and a Bandai Stug IV. I’ve been waiting on a Panther kit for a long time and it’s finally coming out. (Of course, I paid for half of my Panther and later found out that the next big tank from Tamiya wil be a Panther!) On the flip side, I doubt that Tamiya’s kit will be able to rival the detail of the Wecohe kit. For pics, check out www.rctankhq.com .
The Wecohe Panther is a G version with the “chin” style mantlet and while I’ve seen color plate pics of Panther Gs with the chin mantlet AND zimmerit applied, I haven’t found any actual wartime pics of late Gs with zimm. While it won’t break my heart not to apply zimm to the kit since it’s a great deal of work, I would like do it if it will be historically accurate. I would greatly appreciate any help you all offer.
Late Panther G with chin gun mantlet covered in zimmerit? Sounds weird. The book I have on Panthers, Thomas Jentz’s Germany’s Panther Tank, says they zimmerit application stopped a week or two after they introduced the chin mantlet so I guess it’s a real possibility but only on a few of those manufactured in September of 1944 and possibly a few that might have applied zimmerit in the field(?). I say skip the zim unless you have in mind recreating one of those specific tanks in the pictures you mentioned. Where were those pictures anyway.
I’d go with what TankJunky said. I checked all my references and the only clear shots of the chin on the turret show them without zimmerit. So unless you’re modeling a specific Panther from one of your photos, skip the zim. [:)]
The book I have that shows a late G with zimm is the old 1975 “Panther in Action” by Bruce Culver. It’s a Squadron.Signal Publication. One of the color plate pics on page 26 shows a late G with zimm.
Ironically, for such a low priced book, it has a lot of actual pictures of the different Panther versions.
Of course, there are pics of Panthers labled as late war Gs that have the proper rear exhaust for a late version G that also have zimm, but unfortunately, none of these actual pics show the front of the tank. Pages 40, 41 and 42. One of the tanks shown also has the gun cleaning rod tube stowed on the rear deck; another indicator of a late G.
I always liked the effect that zimm gave to my tanks and it just doesn’t feel right to have a German tank without it. But I can’t go so blatently against historical references just for aesthetics.
The painting of the Panther on the cover has the zimmeritted chin mantlet as well. After looking on page 30 and 31 where it shows pictures of turrets and hulls to be remanufactured I wonder what they did with say a recovered Panther D turret. Would they filll in the pistol port plugs or strip the zimmerit if they were going to put it on a later model hull?
I saw that picture as well. My thoughts are that the Germans were in a bind for time and materiel, so it makes sense that they were recycling D turrets. Given pics I’ve seen from other books, they wouldn’t bother to remove zimm from any of these newly recycled tanks. I’ve seen tanks with different patterns of zimm on the various sections. If I go strictly by the official German timeline, then there shouldn’t be any late Gs (with the chin mantlet) with zimm applied. The pics of the kit show a Panther with the chin mantlet, but I’m hoping that I can obtain or kit bash a rounded mantlet for it in order to build an early G. That way I can honestly apply my zimm. [:)]
A photograph of a Tamiya employee at a trade fair of some sort showed him holding a display placard on which the lower hull of a Panther could clearly be seen. A label on the placard said Tamiya Panther 1/16. There were throngs of photographers around him snapping pictures.
I don’t recall what event this was – maybe the Tokyo toy fair?
It’s got a little more detail than the first shot of the Tamiya guy holding the display board.
The nagging question is how long after a supposed debut at the Nuremburg Toy Fair will the kit be released?
Of course, for those that can’t wait and have the cash to spend, there is always the super detailed Panther G kit being offered right now at www.etoarmour.com. I have to admit that I went with this kit instead of waiting for Tamiya to offer theirs. I did this partly for the meticulous detail in this kit and the fact that it is now here and will be shipping in early to mid January.
Okay, here’s a thought (though a little extreme): say they (the Germans) “recycled” a tank; say they used a “G” turret on an “A” chassis. Or maybe the other way around (you never know!). Suppose it was early to mid-1945 and they were in a hurry. Suppose the chassis already had the zimmerit on it, but the turret didn’t. That would be interesting, wouldn’t it? And a conversation piece? Just thinking out loud . . .