The Panther A project

[mark lawson]

After being captured the British wanted to press the 2 Panther and 2 Tiger into service but this was denied by high command Panther 321, 302 and Tiger 114 were used in firing trials, Panther 321 and 302 were sent to Isigny/Balleroy July/Aug 1944 and were used by the Americans to test the effects of 17Pdr and 76mm antitank rounds.

Little is known about how Panther 321 was disabled and by who, there are no action reports on the loss of this Panther from either the Germans or the British which is not suppressing as this was a bloody battle involving a number of regiments and divisions on each side, the Germans alone had in this small area;
1st SS LAH
2nd SS DR (Kampfgruppe Wedinger)
12th SS HJ
s.SS.Pz.Abt.101 Tigers
Panzer Lehr
2. Panzer Division
What we know is that Panther 321 was hit in the front drive sprocket causing a large portion of the outer ring to be blown away and the loss of front road wheel possibly breaking the swing arm causing the crew to abandon the Panther but without destroying either the main gun or the tank itself meaning that the crew were in a hurry to get away, it’s not known if any of the crew were lost after abandoning the Panther.

From what I can gather the most likely contenders for disabling the Panther are;
Antitank guns of 1st Battalion B/C company Tyneside Scottish
Sherman’s of A/C company 24th Lancers or B squadron 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards.

[mark lawson]

One feature of the Panther that stands out and will be replicated in my build is the third outer road wheel which has 16 bolts and 16 rivets these wheels were changed to the reinforced 24 bolt type in September 1943 the wheels with mixed bolts and rivets were still fitted to Panther and could still be seen on Panther intermittently through to March 1944.
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[mark lawson]

download/file.php?mode=view&id=51584

The only known surviving February 1944 M.A.N Panther is Fgst.Nr.210705 this is owned by the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum and was restored by Bruce Crompton but now has the additional cooling pipes on the left exhaust I suspect this has more to do with reliability than restoring to it’s original condition

download/file.php?mode=view&id=51583

[mark lawson]

Some essential research material to help with the build, on top of this I have a number of detail pictures of surviving Panther A

[mark lawson]

And some history regarding Panzer Regiment 3/2.Panzer Division in French.

[mark lawson]

anther Early idler wheels (Liam Mahoney)

I have a set of Liam’s outstanding early 600mm idler wheels, these are fitted to Ausf D, A and G. I will be fitting these to my Panther Ausf A build.

To say Liam has added as much detail as possible is putting things mildly, these idlers are built exactly as they were during the war, the idlers have been printed in steel then machined as the original would have been, even leaving imperfections to show on the machined areas again as the real items would have been. The only other person to achive this level of detail was Bodo Langhben RIP. I'm sure he would approve of these idlers.

The alloy end caps were machined by myself and need to be finished off with casting effects and also the addition of heax head bolts as opposed to the allen bolts fitted for the time being.

Over the years Armortek has changed the idler arms on the Panther, Liam has the ability to modify any of these arms to make the idlers fit your model.

I also have a set of Liam’s steel tracks to go with the idler wheels.

If you are interested in these idler wheels please contact Liam for availability and price.

[mark lawson]

Panther steel tracks (Liam Mahoney)

I have a set of Liam’s steel Panther tracks again these will be fitted to my Ausf A. I won’t be fitting these tracks for a while so I have shown how they fit with the standard sprockets and Liam’s idler wheels. Notice that the chevrons are lower than on other steel tracks
These tracks have already been tested on a Jagdpanther in Australia.

I don’t think these tracks are available from Liam yet but the quality is exceptional as you would expect. They are designed as a direct replacement with no need to widen the sprockets.

Contact Liam for availability and prices.