For a brief vehicle history, the Panther is one of the most successful tank designs of WW2 and was well respected by its opponents. Debuting in 1943 at the battle of Kursk in Russia, it was beset by serious mechanical reliability problems, largely due to its hasty development and being rushed into service without adequate time to work out its bugs (too early for the millenium bug though). By 1944 it was a somewhat reliable machine ideal to the defensive tactics employed by the Germans from 1943 on. It is in my opinion the best overall ”defensive” tank of the war built in any quantity, though this can be subject of many a heated discussion. This AFV is generally so well known I won’t go into its history any further.

     Before I begin I would like to put in a plug for small ”braille” scale armor and say that a lot more can be done with 1/72-1/76 as far as detailing and stuff than many think. With the plethora of new 1/35 armor on the market I sadly find the number and quality of contest entrees in this scale dwindling (at least in the Northeast US) though it does not have to be that way. A modeler I greatly respect once told me that when you work in a smaller scale "you don't leave out the detail, you make it smaller". By this I believe he meant that just because the kit is small and inexpensive you don’t have to just slap it together! I find 1/72 to be very satisfying and a lot easier on the wallet and storage space. I recommend working from the copious amount of research books on the Panther (and other subjects) and go wild with your detailing. There are Eduard, PART and Extratech brass sets out there specially made for this scale and things like tow cables, side skirts, tarps and hand tools can easily be scratchbuilt.

     This kit represents a late-war G version of the Panther with the smaller engine deck grills, no driver's viewing port in the glacis and the option of a chinned or original style mantlet, etc. There are about 60 parts molded in light gray styrene, and two black vinyl tracks. A variety of decal markings are offered which apply well and look great with a little solvaset, even into a zimmerit coating.

     Regarding building, the positive points are its solid construction and overall good fit. The wheels and other parts went on snugly with no flash and few ejector pin marks to deal with. On the negative side, it suffers from what I feel is common to a lot of older armor kits in this scale: a lack of detail and/or accuracy. For example, the commander's copula has solid simply molded episcope ports, the engine deck lacks bolt details, and the tracks are not as accurately detailed as the others in this scale are. If you wish the copula could be switched with one stolen from an ESCI or Matchbox/Revell kit, which have open ports and are more accurately scaled.

     With a little work the Hasegawa Panther still makes a great looking little panzer. I've built two so far and will do the other versions as well. At AMPS 2000 I noted a very admirable cleanly built and painted Hasegawa Panther kit. For detailing I recommend starting with Eduard's 1/72 scale etched detail set (#22011), designed for Esci's Jagdpanther kit (the Jagdpanther and Panther G had similar chassis) or a brass set (#22027) for Revell’s Panther G kit that would also work with the this model. Install wire scratchbuilt grab handles, lifting and tow rings, tools, and an antenna made from a paintbrush bristle or stretched sprue. Critical is to scribe all the weld seams, particularly the finger joints where the armor plates join. Reinforce the sprocket and idler wheel axles with thick styrene (in areas hidden by the tracks and side skirts) so the tight tracks do not bend or brake the wheels off. The tracks can be dressed with mud or snow to hide the lack of detail. (Think Modelkasten does anything in this scale?) Superglue the top track section down to the top of the road wheels starting with the 2^nd or 3^rd wheel back to represent the natural sag of the dead tracks German tanks used.

     To represent a late G model I scratchbuilt a raised fan housing and made new side skirts from .005 clear plastic sheet and tow cables from string coated in white glue (to keep down the fuzz). I finished my Panther G with a three-color ambush camouflage scheme of early 1945 in, starting with a base color of red primer. As use of zimmerit anti-magnetic coatings ended in August-September of 1944, many Panther G’s did not have the coating.

     In addition to this Panther G, Hasegawa released two new Panther versions in 1997: the steel wheeled Panther G, and a steel wheeled Panther F that features a redesigned narrower turret. These nice additions fill a niche for the Panther collector and are the only molded styrene offerings in this scale I know of. The two kits are essentially Hasegawa's original Panther G with new additional parts, leaving you with extra wheels and stuff for the parts box. The new parts are more finely molded and detailed, similar to Hasegawa’s superb aircraft kits.

     In 2000, Hasegawa issued a Panther II kit, which I have been told by is simply their steel-wheeled Panther F kit with a turned aluminum 88 mm tank gun. No corrections were made to the kits body or suspension to create a real Panther II model.

     The most positive point about the model is the detail, which is superb for the scale and even for some 1/35-scale kits of the time it was released. The tools are molded separately; the weld seems are there and are exceptionally done; the wheels have well defined rim bolts, the copula and periscopes look good and all the hatches can be built open! (If only the engine hatches could open!)

     On the downside, Esci had absolutely the worst vinyl (polyethylene?) track material I have worked with so far. It seems to defy epoxy and super glue, is too stiff, and easy to break (On the other hand I think Esci’s styrene track sections are well done). To get the proper sag I had to tie the tracks down to the roadwheels with thread, which is fortunately hid by the side skirts; and I have found recently that a two part cyanoacrylate glue called Plastix Advanced Plastic Bonder, by Loctite Corp., will work in gluing this track material to the wheels. To work with the stiff vinyl tracks it helps to immerse them in hot water and bend them around a dowel about the same size as the sprocket and idler wheels so the track keeps the curve with less stress. The guide teeth on the sprockets did not fit into the tracks so many of the sprocket teeth had to be cut off or filed down to allow the track to sit down on the sprocket. The hull sponson overhang, above the tracks, is completely open and will need to be closed with styrene strips & filler if you don't want to see daylight through open hatches.

     Another obstacle is a poor fit of many major pieces such as the hull parts and wheels. A bit of drilling, filling and/or filing is needed. Oddly, the styrene on several of my Esci Panther kits is unusually brittle. I've been told this is from age and the formula of the particular plastic used in the molding.

     Since about all Panther A's were covered in zimmerit, I reproduced this first by scouring the appropriate surfaces horizontally with very coarse sand paper; then scribing the deeper square pattern with a Squadron scribing tool and metal ruler; after determining the correct size for the scale. I have had good fortune using Stucco putty for simulating zimmerit also. To refine the detail on the parts replace the shovel and other tool handles with thinner wire or stretched sprue. For store-bought detailing, I used Eduard's 1/72 scale brass detail set #22010 made for the kit. This nice set will take care of the side skirts, wire engine deck screens, spare track links and guide teeth, etc. Instead of using Eduard's flat pieces for the grab handles, lifting and tow rings, I recommend brass wire instead. In case you can’t find the set made for this ESCI kit, Eduard has also released a brass set (#22024) for the Revell Panther A/D that will work. PART has come out with an etched brass fret of zimmerit for Revell's Panther G that may be rigged to use with this ESCI kit since the two kit’s dimensions are close.

     The kit side skirts can be replaced by Eduard’s brass or scratchbuilt from .005 clear plastic card (which is stiffer and thinner than the standard white styrene sheet). From diagrams, the Eduard brass side skirts appear too wide and should be trimmed so they don't hang too low over the wheels. I constructed tow cables from twisted fine copper wire or twine such as teabag string (with a coating of white glue to keep the fuzz down and add stiffness).

     My kit was completed with a Model Master enamel dunkelgelb paint scheme, acrylic floor wax under the decal areas, Solvaset to nestle the decals down into the zimmerit pattern, and then a Poly-Scale dullcoat. If I had to do it over again I would have added an ochre brown & turp wash to accent the zimmerit pattern.

     Unique in its own way is the ability to easily build either the Ausf. D or A versions: with two choices of commander's copula, exhaust system, and the bow machine gun unit; an AA machine gun mount built into the copula ring, and relatively accurate hand tools that mount on the side of the hull.

     The kit is molded in over 100 tan styrene parts including a sprue of styrene link & length tracks. Construction went well with no major fit problems. The wheels are exceptional with rivets even on the inside of the road wheels. As I wished an early Ausf. D Panther I needed a cylindrical commander’s cupola, however Revell's version was more conical to allow a one piece molding. A new copula was constructed with three different sizes of styrene tubes and by carefully cutting the six viewing ports into the side of the new cupola. Like the ESCI and Hasegawa kits, we need little details like lifting rings, guards over the periscopes, grab handles, wire screen (from Fotocut, PART or Eduard) over the engine grills, etc. New tow cables were fabricated similar to the ones described above.

     The design of the kit's hatches allowed me to build them to open and close using nesting brass tubing. This gave me the opportunity to show a somewhat detailed interior yet have the hatches closed if I wish to use the finished model in a future diorama.

     Decals for two vehicles are provided, though I used vehicle numbers from Hasegawa so I can have all my Panthers within the same Panzer Kompany. The Eduard detail set (#22024)made for this model or the set for the Esci Panther (#22 010) will work well.

     Okay, the kit does have a few drawbacks such as: like the Hasegawa Panther, it has two prominent hinges missing off the engine deck, there are no figures, and it has poorly simulated weld seams. The weld seams should be puttied in, sanded, and rescribed.

     I completed the Revell model in a mottled three color scheme of 1943-1944 using Model Master dunkelgelb lightened with about 10% white to allow for scale effect, then weathered with a wash and pastels.

     I recommend this kit, as well as other new Revell/Monogram 1/72 scale armor kits I have such as a Tiger 1 and Leopard 1. Out from Revell in late 1998 were two more Panther variants in 1/72: a Panther G and a Jagdpanther (not to be confused with Matchbox's old 1/76 Panther G and Jadgpanther). These two new kits are superb with excellent detailing, some of Revell’s Panther A problems corrected and have choices in some parts to build late or early versions.

     All three completed Panther models compare relatively well in size and scale. The Esci is the largest and the Hasegawa the smallest by two to three millimeters; not too noticeable at all when you put them together. All three have easy to understand instructions and painting guides.

     Great resources for the Panther panzer addict are Jentz's Germany's Panther book, and Spielberger's Panther And Its Variants. Other good sources are Squadron's Panther In Action, Schiffer's various Panther books, Osprey Vanguard’s old PzKfw V Panther book and their New Vanguard Panther Variants books, and Concord's excellent Panther book.