Panther G at the Eastern Front 1945

[hotte8487]

How all began...
One day the postman brought a big packet; my auctioned Tamiya Panther type G.



At first I didn't know to which unit my tank should belong, but now I'm sure, in spring of 1945 on the Eastern Front, a very late version of Pz. Abt. 5 from the 25. Panzer-Grenadier-Division. Here is an original photo, taken on 2. February 1945 on the outskirts of Ortwig in the Oderbruch near Küstrin.



I think the colors on the next image by Laurent Lecocq aren't quite correct, but this style of camouflage it should already be.



At the moment I don't know enough about this special camouflage type, but I'm keep searching for additional material.
But for now I have a lot to do, and therefore I have yet much time to think about it. The beginning is certainly always the same; I started with sorting the screws from the four pouches...



... and right after that with screwing the suspension housings on the lower hull.



Subsequently were the torsion bar stays and the track tensioners mounted.



Very important and on next photos to see, don't forget to use on all screwing’s a drop thread lock.



As next follow the attachment of suspension arms and technic ground plate.



After this point I've already been started with first modifications.
So I will for example not use the original armor protection for the gear, but the metal part from Schumo kits. Even here at my Panther I will support the drive shaft on the outside of the hull with ball bearings, eventually he will leave the plant on metal chains.
Drive sprockets and idler wheels has Tamiya donated (no extra charge) in metal. Speaking of ball bearings, in my road wheels I will use appropriate ball bearings; I do not trust the original plain bearings.
The Tamiya drive sprocket and Asiatam Panther metal tracks fit not so easy together, I had to grind the teeth of drive sprockets in thickness, only then fit the tracks.
More details will follow in the next report.

[maxmekker]

allready looking forward to the next step in you're build.

[hotte8487]

And here is he, the next part.
It continues with the installation of the armor protection on the counter.



In order for the armor plate is flush with the end of the outer edge of the lower hull; I've put left and right 0.5 mm thick poly plates underneath.



Should be look like this:



The whole thing then hidden under the counter housing of Asiatam.



On the front panel, I will not even use the tape from Tamiya, here I built my own front panel from a Poly plate, also 0.5 mm thickness.



I’ve glued my front panel with "UHU Superfest"; all attempts with other glues are not very successful.





Here is a first fitting to see, how lower hull, front plate and the armor plating on the counter fit to each other.



In this picture is good to see my slightly modified structure of the surface and also my functioning headlight. In the next photo a bit closer.
Normally, the cable routing must be a bit more to the outside, but then you end up with the cables directly to the chain, so at this point this little compromise.



And so would look the original Tamiya Panther from behind; for me he needs here also changes; it goes on in the next report.

[hotte8487]

The last pic from the last report was my Panther from behind (already with metal tracks), before he’s getting a few upgrades.
Changes at the rear are the topic of today's report. For this I use the first WeCoHe parts. The manhole in the rear wall with the towing device is mounted first.



Since I sometimes expect a placer in the field, I've installed an additional gain of one piece poly plate. Then I installed the bolts for the towing and also immediately secured with a chain. Which seems to me, however, a bit too long, maybe I'll cut back on this opportunity again.



The whole thing now from the other side, this is the place where almost certainly the obligatory bucket will hang.



Then I replaced the other original hatches against hatches by WeCoHe. After that the rear wall looks so...



Here the right side a bit closer…



After then I made a working rear light with a corresponding bracket and I mount it on the rear plate. The bracket for the jack I've also adapted.



For the hand crank of the starter I made a holder and screwed it with M1 screws on the rear plate. Here a recording with my adapted jack holder, which now is also removable.



Then I've put the mounting points for the shackles a little bit to the bottom and add welds to the side plates of the lower hull.



Here again for today's conclusion a long shot of the rear plate; at the moment I let the opening for the original on-off switch still so. I'm not 100% sure, but I probably miss the Panther an ElMod control.
Continued at next time with the changes to the upper hull.

[hotte8487]

Starting today, I dedicate myself to the upper hull. I’ve used again many WeCoHe parts like gun travel lock, heater for crew compartment, some hatch covers, tool holders etc.
I begin with the heater for the crew compartment; the parts quality is fine, but not quite complete. But this is not a problem for a modeler, we adapt and detail at every time. First is here a photo from an original heating.



The ring for insertion of pieces of cake on top of the fan I've cut out from a PE panel, then I grind off bolt and washer and in its place I've drilled a hole and cut a thread M1.



So can I now, depending on the outside temperature, adjust the temperature of the crew compartment through the pie slices.
The holder of the remaining pieces of cake, I also have modified something, he has now received the two small plates welded. So can't the rest of pie pieces while driving make self-employed.







The holders for the spare track links are also from WeCoHe. First I removed all the parts and polished them. Then I've rebored the wholes in the locking bolts and each provided with a short chain.



Then I soldered the chains of locking bolts with a small loop at the spare track link holder. The holders themselves are screwed from the inside of the upper hull with M1 screws. Finished it looks like this.



And here the right side…



The spare track links are only to try; they came with the kit from Tamiya and made of plastic...

[Glen B]

Perhaps this may be helpful;

MHH 1.JPG (88.24 KiB) Viewed 10019 times

MHN 2.JPG (31.39 KiB) Viewed 10019 times

MHN 4.JPG (73.98 KiB) Viewed 10019 times

[Glen B]

One of my IR battling Panthers with my interpretation of the MNH colours, in case it is of interest;

MNH Panther Left Front.JPG (67.61 KiB) Viewed 10013 times

MNH Panther Left Side.JPG (57.12 KiB) Viewed 10013 times

Just after taking out a KV-1 at one of our club's meets

[maxmekker]

Nice, thanks for sahring. May I ask. Are all the metal parts from the wecho panteher set ?

uten navn.png (335.4 KiB) Viewed 9991 times

I would love to get a metal hatch for my jagdpanther, but they don't sell them without the complete set.

[hotte8487]

Nice, thanks for sahring. May I ask. Are all the metal parts from the wecho panteher set ?

uten navn.png

I would love to get a metal hatch for my jagdpanther, but they don't sell them without the complete set.

Hi maxmekker,

WeCoHe has not only one Panther Kit, but WeCoHe have many different kits, look at their website: http://www.wecohe.de.
All parts are in best qualitiy and so they have their price. The delivery times are unfortunately not the shortest, because they have many suppliers and many parts are precision casting parts.
And you are right, unfortunately they sell the hatches only as set.

At my Panther I've used the kits from WeCoHe as follows: set of hatches, crew compartment heater, gun barrel travel lock, tool holder and the spare track holders. In the hatch set are included the complete hatches for engine, the driver and the radio operator (with hinges), two fan grilles for the rear deck and the hull deaerator.

[hotte8487]

One of my IR battling Panthers with my interpretation of the MNH colours, in case it is of interest;

MNH Panther Left Front.JPG

MNH Panther Left Side.JPG

MNH Panther June 2012 battle with KV 1.jpg

Hi Glen,

many thanks for your comment. Your Panther is very nice, you have the camouflage super implemented.
But my Panther will definitely become a camouflage with three colors, it should be a vehicle of Pz. Abt. 5 from the 25. Panzer-Grenadier-Division. About this camouflage I've talked with other users in a german forum. The implementation could be very difficult, because there is no much information about this camouflage and only (bad) photos in black-white. But a user sent me two photos from parts of a Panther with this camouflage.
I will have to make sample drawings before I start painting.