Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf. F

The Panther tanks is generally regarded as the best tank of WWII. Built in response to the russian t 34, the troops  requested a similar tank. The resulting tank however turned out to be much better than the t 34. The panther became the standard medium tank of the german army and had good armour, high mobility and a deadly accurate, high penetrating gun. Initially a 75mm l 100 gun was planned for the panther but since that gun was not ready in time, the 75mm L 70 was used which proofed very good and competitive even towards the end of WWII. With the arrival of newer  and better russian and some very few american and britsh tanks, the companys that built the panther tried to improve it. Throuhg constant develoment the basic panther D became the panther A and late the panther G. However towards the end of the war another variant was shortly before entering production: the panther F. The panther F had acompleteley new turret with better armour (120mm instead of the older panthers 100mm). The new turret was called the schmalturm (slim turret) because of its slimmer appearence. Although the armour was increased the new turret was actually lighter because of its smaller size.  The gun was still the 75mm l 70, however plans were already underway to ultimately equip the panther F with the 88mm L 71 from the king tiger(the king tiger would have been reequipped with the 105mm L 68 gun). With that gun the panther F would have been even deadlier since the 88mm l 71 was the second most powerful tank gun fielded in WWII(surpassed only by the 128mm L55 of the jagdtiger and the maus). New vent were also planned . These vents would have been used to heat the crew compartment . Several other details were also changed to ease manufacture and reliability. the most drastic changes included a much much better Seitenvorgelege ( there doesnt seem to be an englisch word for that). The seitenvorgelege of the earlier pan thers was too weak and it was the main reason for panther breakdowns. The panther F would hav been equipped with a much better one and also a new transmission. Top speed was 46 kph. The road wheels would have been made of steel which saved rubber. The schachtellaufwerk configuration was kept.  Only one panther F turret was produced and put on a panther G hull. The new turret would have also been used on the panther II. Infrared gadgets were also planned for the panther F ( these were already used in small nubers near the end of the war oon reguar panther G tanks). With the better turret and all the improvements, the panther F would have been a deadly adversary

T he model: This is a dragon kit, one of their so callled smart kits. It  costs an astonishing 54 € and contains a lot of parts. Its in 1/35 scale and comes with the 75mm L 100 gun

Details: This kit is covered in lots and lots of small details. metal parts and photo etched parts are included as well. The new vent the panther F had are especially well done and the turret also has fantatic detail. The wheels look very very good.   The kit is extremely well detailed.
*****
Quality. The  kit has no signs of flash or sinkmarks, its top quality
*****
Fitting: The kit went flawlessly together, its very easy to assemble despite all the fiddly parts
*****
Decals: Not a lot, the standard markings are available which is totally fie and the decals ahave good quality
*****
Extrapoints: What made me buy the kit was the gun: its not the 75mm l 70, its the 75mm L 100 gun whch was never fitted to the panther because it wasnt ready at the time the panther entered service( there is very little information about this gun and even  an internet research couldnt bring me much information about this gun). This gun gives the panther F kit an extremely long barrel which looks awesome. what I like is that the barrel is single piece which means there is so seam that you often get in 2 piece barrels.
*****
Result: what an amazing kit,  its flawless in my opinion and totally worth its expensive price. I love what dragon did with the kit, its easy to assemble and the instructions are also prettty straight forward ( sth dragon isnt neccessarily known for). I had so much fun assembling this tank. This kit is highly recommended, anyone who loves german wwii tanks should get this one or one of the other smart kit panthers from dragon . It  offers excellent quality and detail with perfect fitting for a pretty expensive but worth price.
*****