Corporal Overby's Motor Pool

Update Set for Panther Ausf. G

Kit # MP030

This set is meant as an upgrade for the Hasegawa Panthers. Technically, the set is meant for the early Panther (MT9), but as all kits share the parts for the early Panther, any boxing will do. (It seems these kits were also sold by Lindberg, by the way.)

Contents

The set offers almost a complete kit:

• hollow upper hull, with separate driver's hatches;
• rear plate;
• two hollow turret bodies, one for a regular Panther and one for the proposed Beobachtungspanzer Panther, with separate hatch, MG ring, MG mount and MG.;
• dummy barrel for the BeobPz;
• gun mantlet with reinforced chin. This was introduced in September 1944 (but not on all vehicles), just after Zimmerit was abandoned (quite a relief....);
• outer rubber-tired roadwheels; note that the first tanks with steel wheels appeared in September 1944, but that they never completely replaced the rubber tired wheels;
• MG barrel;
• headlight;
• exhausts with Flammentöter, which were partially introduced from October 1944 onwards;

According to Ken Overby the newer releases of this kit will also feature resin tracks, to replace the rather "mediocre" black vinyl tracks of the donor kit.

Quality

The parts are cast in a plastic-like yellow resin. I do not know which composition this resin has, but apart from requiring superglue, it cuts and sands just like hard styrene, and is thus very comfortable to work with.
Some flash and molding carrots are present, as with all resin kits. Three air bubbles were found, in places where they are easy to correct. Detail is very crisp and a huge improvement over the Hasegawa kit. The only oversight is the lack of travel lock for the gun, which is present in the Hasegawa kit. (Apparently newer releases of this set have the travel lock.)

As you can see below

• The new hull has little in common with the original, having far better detail.
• The same thing can be said for the turret, with a special mention for the cupola. The cupola has a small amount of flash on the inside that you might want to remove if you want to fit a complete figure.
• The main improvement in the rear hull plate is the better shape of the bins.
• While perhaps not very visible in the scan below, the new wheels have a convincing dish form, whereas the Hasegawa parts are almost flat.
• The new gun mantlet has a better shaped chin and better viewing orifices.

A quick dryfit showed that all parts fit the donor kit very well.

References

Panzer Tracts 5-3 Panzerkampfwagen "Panther" Ausfuehrung G, T.L. Jentz, H.L. Doyle.

Sample kit bought by author.

Article Last Updated: 17 March 2013