Pz.kpfw. V Panther Ausf. F

A few Ausf. F hulls were actually built and used in the final days in Berlin by Pz. Rgt. 2. But they had standard Ausf. G turrets. Here's one, identifiable by the horizontally cut interlock between the glacis and front side plate. 

Turrets were in production too, just not mounted on the hulls. Here's the one captured by the British, before it got heavily modified on the gunnery ranges. The smashed up remains are now on display at Bovington. The factory camo is applied and shows similarity with the camo on the Ausf. F hulls deployed in Berlin. 

Here's another of the Ausf. F hulls in Berlin. Three colour camo roughly brushed on can be seen on the rear hull. Turret camo intrigues me though. It appears to have a tri-tonal scheme but the mid-tone ( I usually reckon this is the green), appears to be outlined in the darkest tone, i.e. the red brown? 

Some contrast enhancement brings out this feature more clearly. 

Here's a neat illustration of the Ausf. G and F hull differences 

The Vespid kit provides fine detail and moulding. 

It's no exaggeration to say this is 1/35 level detail in 1/72 

Just look at the turret with fine torch cut marks 

The kit includes a breathtaking 3D printed FG1250 Sperber night vision device.  

Running gear is all steel wheels and beautifully detailed. 

Drive sprockets are pretty much as detailed as 1/35 versions. 🙂 

Tracks are link and length and have very accurate tread detail 

Insides look just as good as outsides and almost no ejection marks. 

Last but not least, a turned metal barrel and fine photo etch. Absolutely no need for any after market which makes this kit fantastic value for money at around £20. Note the PE parts 6 and 7 which are the schurzen support brackets. Some say these are impossible to build they are so tiny. More on this shortly... 

Swing arms are individually moulded. The fit is positive but not very precise so care is needed to ensure perfect alignment. 

But the rear plate helps true up the hull if it is temporarily installed. I took care to align all the axles; hopefully this will ensure the best possible wheel and track alignment later. 

At this stage, I also checked the main structure fit; overall all's good, but to ensure the gap between turret and hull is correct, it's necessary to remove the ejector pin marks from inside the turret ring base.  

Whilst doing checks I was curious to see how the sprocket and tracks fitted. Answer= perfect! 

First detail addition needed is the bolt heads and plate interlocks here. Notice the tiny weld seams with the lower nose plate though - AFAIR these aren't present at all on Tamiya's 1/35 Panther kits. 

Should look like this. 

The interlock detail was added with a shim and some Mr Surfacer. Kit includes bolt heads but these are not referenced in the instructions. I added 3 each side. I know there should be 6, but these are tiny and I couldn't fit more in. 

I think this improves the front. Link and length tracks are a fiddle to get right, but look fantastic once installed. 

Driver and radio operator hatches have separate handles... 

And thanks to a clever internal design can be made openable with care. 

Photo etch grill detail on the rear hull fits perfectly. However the right hand intakes should have louvred covers which are not included, so I added these from 5 thou plastic card. 

Now for the scary bit! Almost all the reviews of the Vespid Panthers grumble that the etched schurzen brackets are so small they are impossible to make. So I was anxious, but it turned out to be fine. The finished brackets are virtually to scale and look great. 

Being so tiny, they are hard to photograph. Each bracket has four 90 degree folds in odd directions. 

In case you are making one, I'll try and talk you through what worked for me. The first point to be aware of is that the instructions mix up the left and right side part numbers. On the etch fret, the brackets numbered PA6 are for the port side and PA7 starboard. 

You need the right tools!
A magnifing lens or optivisor is essential to see what you are doing (or it was for me!) Plus a sharp well pointed scalpel, needle nosed tweezers, a steel ruler, and a stiff straight edged, 0.5mm thick steel tool for holding the bracket firmly down as you make the bends (I used an Infiniti micro sanding stick).
Lay the part on the steel rule, pin down with the steel tool inside each fold, then using the scalpel, bend each of the three folds upwards. Then with the tweezers, make the final bend downwards. N.b. If you want to be completely accurate to the original bracket design, the first three bends are 90 degrees and the last bend, which is the schurzen plate rear support should be about 80 degrees as the schurzen plates were not totally vertical and flared out a little over the upper track run.
The runners (parts C37 and C36) have small positioning marks underneath and it's simple to then superglue each bracket in the correct position.  

This sketch from Achtung Panzer No. 4 explains more clearly than the kit instructions how all this metalwork works. 

Schurzen rail and port side tools mounted 

One minor shortcoming with the kit is that the tow cables are moulded in plastic. So I've kept the eyes but replaced the cable with 0.5mm Karaya cable which will be shaped later. 

Next improvement is the exhaust pipes leading into the flammenvernichter flame supressors. The top unit shows how the kit oversimplifies this to mould in a single piece. A few minutes scraping and filing produces a much more convincing looking unit. Because of the delicate etched brackets to support these, I decided I would build the rear plate before fixing it to the rest of the hull. Also note the stowage box on the left for the night vision gear stowage. This was armoured unlike the standard stowage boxes so should not be bashed up like the standard sheet metal rear stowage boxes often are. 

Main structures complete. The mantlet rain cover needs annealing to hold its form. 

There's as much or more photo etch included than many 1/35 kits.  

One item I fabricated to replace the kit plastic part, was the track cable mount next to the jack block. 

The photoetch for the screens has a realistic mesh weave incorporated. 

The foliage loops on the turret are really tiny. No spares are included on the fret, so it's do or die. I pondered a while how to get them in the right places, secure and straight. In the end, I took the plans in Panzer Tracts and pencilled the positions, then with a geometry divider set to the same width as the loops, pressed small twin holes in the turret sides. This has the added benefit of producing small lips around each indentation, which nicely mimic the welds.  

The fan detail inside the flammenvernichter is very fine and it seems a shame to cover it with the hoods, but as this is intended to represent a brand new vehicle straight off the production line (see photo #3), I am going to cover this detail with the hoods. 

After all the microscopic photo etch I needed something big(ger) for a break so I have been making a Matchbox style diobase to try and convey a Berlin May 1945 setting. 

After looking at ready made Berlin dio buildings, I decided that none had a distinctly Berlin look to them. I wanted the neo classical features that Hitler and Speer favoured for their buildings. So I'm scratch building the dio, with the help of two columns from White Stork Miniatures. I went for a mausoleum type structure as a metaphor for the death of the Third Reich. 

Mostly, this is made from AK's construction styrofoam. skimmed with Perfect Plastic Putty from Deluxe Materials and 5 thou plastic card for the relief details. Sandbags from Milliput.