Cyberhobby

1/35 Befehls Panther Ausf.G

Kit Number: 6551

Reviewed by  Joachim Lotz, IPMS# 44170

MSRP: $ 42.95 Imported by Dragon Models USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com I will not dwell on the history of the Panther because so much has been written that I doubt that I would be able to add anything new. Therefore I will go straight to the kit and build. The Kit This is a kit of the Panther G as a Befehlspanzer or command tank from DML's Cyberhobby line. The kit comes as a smart kit and is loaded as usual with a boat load of parts. The kit contains the following: Light grey sprues. 1 sprue with clear parts. 1 bag of magic tracks. 2 P/E Frets. 2 different thickness metal cables for tow cables and track repair cable. 1 small decal sheet. 1 17-step instruction sheet. Painting guide for 1 vehicle of an unknown unit. The total parts count is over 730 parts, but not all part will be used. So that leaves plenty for the spare parts box. All parts are very detailed and don't show any ejector pin marks or flash. But there are some small mold parting lines that need to be cleaned but it's more of an inconvenience than an actual chore. Only part P1, which is the mast for the long star aerial was bend on the sprue. But with plenty of hot water and some TLC I got the part almost straight again. The Build The assembly of the model was straightforward and didn't have any surprises. All parts fit very well and no seams needed filling, so I won't dwell on the whole assembly process and just point out the different options that this model offers as far as parts are concerned. In Step 1 you have the option of 2 different styles of idler wheels as well as different fans for the air intakes. Step 2 offers different choices for the suspension including 2 styles of final drives, different stops for the swing arms as well as 2 different styles of torsion bars for the last 2 wheels to use steel wheels instead of the rubber tired ones. I did not attach the wheels until I was ready to build up the tracks. The star aerial can be attacked either to the right rear stowage box or on top of the engine deck. If the second options is used the base for the aerial can be attached the stowage box. I choose to keep all hatches closed since besides a simple breech block assembly and the torsion bars no other interior detail is provided. A nice touch as are always the clear vision blocks that I masked off with Walthers Magic Masker which is easy to remove with a tooth pick after painting is complete. The engine deck also offers choices for different options which include open or closed louvers for the air intakes as well as early and late style fan covers. I chose the latter. The pioneer tools are very nicely detailed and a pleasure with their detail. The turret assembly as well as the upper hull assembly were straight forward and went together without any problems. The Bosch headlight actually comes with a 2 piece conduit and is a very nice touch on Dragons part. Another nice thing in this kit are the pins that hold the spare tracks and tow cables in place.

As for the magic tracks, I come to love them a little more with every Dragon kit I build. One thing in this kit to pay attention too is that there are different track links that go around the drive sprocket. These links need to have the guide horns glued to them and the cut outs for the sprocket are actually a little bigger than the regular links to make them fit better around the sprocket. The metal cables are a little to stiff for my taste and that makes it a little difficult to have the tow cables conform to the hull. For that reason I left the track repair cable off. Painting and Weathering I first primed the whole model with Tamiya light grey primer and have the model a base coat of Tamiya XF-60 Dunkelgelb. I painted the wheels on the sprues and attached them later when I added the tracks. For the camouflage pattern I airbrushed first Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green and then Tamiya XF-62 Red Brown. The tow cables got a coat of Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey followed by Bragdon Powder Rust. After a coat of future I applied the decals that went on without any problems. Next I applied an overall wash of black and burnt umber followed by a coat of Model Master clear flat. I finished the model with a light coat of Bragdon powder dust. Conclusion This is another fantastic kit from Dragon and I can give it a high 5. Every modeler with a few armor models under their belt should have no problems with this kit. It gives plenty of options and the assembly process is straightforward and doesn't contain any big surprises. The few little negative parts are more than made up by the detail of this kit. I can highly recommend this kit to any armor modeler. I would like to thank Dragon Models USA for this review kit.