Price wars are a funny thing - you need to look at
what you're getting. Things are certainly all up in the air at present. Tamiya brought out
a Char B for £34.99 (I live in England!!!) just as AFV Club lowered the price of their
fab new Centurion to £22.99. OK the Char B DOES have plastic tracks, but the Centurion
comes as a complete kit with working suspension etc. for £12 less...
Dragon come somewhere in the middle here. Look in the Char B box and you'll
think half the kit's been taken out. Any Dragon box is so full you have to remember the
sequence it came out in, to get it all back in!
OK, Dragon have always thrown the kitchen sink in the box, even if for a long time their
accuracy wasn't always the best, hence their 'Imperial' series Panther G's, based on the
80s Gunze Sangyo kits which were great in their time but...
Tamiya's Gs looked fantastic in 1994. I bought loads, and still have 4 currently on the
go. In the last 12 years, though, the Panther has come in for a lot of fresh attention as
many assumptions (mostly based on British Army information from the late 40's) were proved
wrong - this has led to new information and plans, some also incorrect or misleading, from
the Tank Power Boys, Anderson and Wai, Doyle and Jentz et al. The controversies over IR
sets, self-cleaning idlers etc are still alive, but all the misinformation has opened up
the subject so that details missed on these kits have kept the aftermarket kit makers in
business for 14 years.
Then Dragon weigh back in with this. All change now, this is all-new tooling, the
slide-moulding and other techniques perfected on last year's Tiger 1s is now being used to
even greater effect, and the amount of delicate details on the kit has to be seen to be
believed. Come on Tamiya, I counted 85 details on the new Dragon G that aren't even hinted
at on the Tamiya G's (it's funny that we always just accepted them that way for so long!).
The comparison with the Tamiya Gs is instructive as both are pretty near spot on
dimensionally, so I won't throw away my stockpile of Tamiya ones yet, and they'll still
build into showpieces with the right extras and time - but this new kit has just raised
the game.
THE KIT
Builds from the box into a late-late or final model with flame-arrester exhausts - to
create an earlier model you'll need some early idlers from the A or D kits, early/mid
exhausts from the Tamiya kits and a few other details to scratchbuild such as early hull
hatches etc**. (but why bother, as Dragon will probably release one of these soon!). The
standard of tooling and representation is on a par with their Tiger 1s, and therefore the
best available - period.
The 'Smart Kit' concept is great for most modelers as it keeps costs down and photo-etch
to just the engine guards and a few other smaller bits (though the first thing I did was
invest in some Aber sets as there are plenty of details that plastic just can't emulate -
though the jury is still out on their tool clasps which are almost impossible to
assemble!).
Cyberhobby does an update set that you can use instead if you can get one, but I still
confess to preferring the 'Premium edition' concept such as on the new D, that has these
things in the box from the start.
TURRET
All the late features are here, MG-peg-and-late-cupola, gas-sensor panels, IR set armored
guard (no IR fittings though!) and the redundant base for the ortokompass. Also you get
both early and late fans and both types of mantlet (with IR attachments), as even very
late MNH models could be seen with both types.
All with a lovely surface texture, and a fabulous slide-moulded mantlet with the correct
undercut to the periscopes. The only things missing are photo-etch for the commander's
sight (it's plastic), and this and the gas-sensors could use replacing with thinner items.
The gun barrel is plastic, but a very nice moulding, with a slide-moulded muzzle brake and
the characteristic subtle double-taper that most Panthers had, and that up till now only
Gunze Sangyo had emulated with their brass barrels back in 1987! Dragon's new D* has this
feature also, but in alloy.
*N.B. Not all Panthers had the 2-taper barrel though, so check your photo-references. The
D in Breda, Holland, and the G in Overloon both have the 'straight' profile for instance.)
HULL
All the research on this area now brings us 3 different torsion bar types (working if you
want, just like the Dragon Tigers), plus much more drive sprocket, sprocket base and hull
bottom details. There are even 2 versions, the final MNH fit with track skids being a
pleasant surprise inclusion. The final model MAN version even has the steel wheel on the
last station AT THE CORRECT 800mm DIAMETER!.
Another new item are the final cast exhaust bases, which were seen on MNH Panthers (e.g.
Pz-Rgt-1) from the Ardennes onwards (one could use the simple pipe exhaust with these late
cast bases for a unique early-late arrangement), alongside the welded versions which are
also in the kit. 2 versions of the late flame-arresters are also included, both new
toolings and much more accurate than the old Dragon versions, making a potential 4 exhaust
options .
I notice also the inclusion of 3 bases for aerials, which hints at a possible Befehls
version in the future? (In the meantime you can use one to dress up their new D which
amazingly doesn't come with any!)
The hull MG (working!) late MAN-type gun port is a great moulding, and addresses a major
flaw in the Tamiya kits that all have a relatively rare version of the mid/late MG port,
and not that accurate at that. This new one is correct for most late Panther Gs - but
again, check photos, as there were a few different castings dependent on the
sub-contractor, quite apart from the official 'early' and 'late' versions of the stepped
embrasure (for instance, the Overloon G has the early version whilst the Houffalise G has
the later MAN type as in the kit - the Tamiya G type with a small correction can be seen
on mid and late Daimler-Benz Gs also). But it's safe to say that this is the best gun port
yet for late G's.
The only slight gaff is the round air intake. The armoured version has a double-layered
base (the armoured intake fits ON TOP OF the original Ausf A type with the mesh attached),
hence the Tamiya item is quite 'thick' to reflect this. The Dragon base looks too thin, so
it needs topping with a brass or 10 thou plastikard item and THEN the armored guard
putting on top. As Dragon give you 2 optional engine covers (normal and alternate-plugged)
you could even sand one off this and reuse it...
The engine heater and 'pie slices' are seen here together correctly for the first time and
are very nicely moulded - the pie slices are supplied with all 6 fitted as a one piece
moulding - I've never seen them like this, but it's relatively simple to remove 2 or 3 for
a particular vehicle, or you can use the 'stowed' version also supplied.
TRACKS
The 170 Magic Tracks are fabulous - BUT you need 84-5 per side plus spares
stowed, so you don't get any spares for the turret (and many late G's had up to 15 on each
side), but on the plus side these are in many ways even nicer than metal track such as
Fruill - even if they don't hang quite as easily as metal, they just 'feel' great to work
with.
Strangely (for the reason of putting them round the drive sprockets), Dragon also include
4 sprues holding 16 tracks with separate guide horns, but I tried a test run with the
Magic Tracks round one of the sprockets and they fitted perfectly, so I think this is
nonsense (using up old moulds Dragon?) and I'll just use them when I run out of the
others...
SUMMARY
The best Panther kit of any type on offer right now, the G even beats the Dragon A and D
for subtlety of moulding, and is in my view, one of the 3 best tank kits ever in plastic,
alongside Tamiya's Cromwell and Dragon's own Tiger 1 late version. It's minor niggles are
insignificant and only purists will need the photo-etch add-ons. Buy as many as you can
get your hands on!
BUT...
It's not perfect though - the Panther G is festooned with subtle details for such a
'clean' design - so don't throw away all that Aber/Eduard/ShowModelling brass etch just
yet. There are still a few bits on any 1/35 scale Panther that are just too clumsy when
tooled in plastic - the smaller engine deck hooks being an example, plus the hull tool
racks, and any turret track hangers (plus the extra tracks!) will have to be aftermarket
items as they aren't included here. The various chains for track hangers etc will still
keep us purists reaching for the photo-etch!
Lest we forget - plenty of conversion potential here as well - any mid-to-late model can
be attempted with the minor additions **aforementioned.
BIBLIO
This model depicts a couple of comparatively rare Panther variants. The best
Panther G primer is undoubtedly **PANZER TRACTS 5-3 by Doyle and Jentz. Be aware though,
that this deals largely with production models - many Panther
Gs in addition had field-applied zimmerit or rainguards, barrel cleaners moved, different
MG port castings etc. etc. (**Spielberger's 'Panther' is great at showing most details in
closeup), so as wide a selection as possible of books is useful - the **Then and Now book
Battle of the Bulge is brilliant as it shows plenty of late model Panthers, though none as
late as the ones in the kit. **Tank Power's 'Panther' series also has loads of plans and
details, but be careful as there are lots of inaccuracies.
Ron Hayes 31.8.06
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