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Steve Winstone latest contact details:

steve.winstone@sky.com

38 Morris Court
Waltham Abbey
Essex EN9 3DX
UK

I gather there may have been some difficulty recently in contacting Steve for his Elite Series Parts.

Regards

Stephen

Stephen -

That's useful - thanks. I've sent him an email.

What I'm after is the exhaust fans / grills that go at the top of the mufflers on a Panther G's exhausts (probably all the wrong words ). I've found out that my Panther G (ex-Steve Norris) is a very late (March/April 1945) build, and this is the only part I haven't sourced yet. Here's a picture of what I mean, from Bovington's G:



I know Field of Armor do them, but only as part of a complete exhaust set that, after postage from the US, is going to set me back around £100 .... a bit steep for a couple of bits of photo-etched brass.

If Steve doesn't do them, does anyone know of any other possible suppliers ?

All the best,

Chris

Hi Chris,

I send you a PM

Regards Yves

Chris

Steve does do a Panther G exhaust system complete at around £110 (2013 prices). You'd have to ask him if he could supply the bits you want separately.

The bits you're after are part of the Flamenvernichter or flame traps and are simple cyclonic grills:
The Panther (in common with the Tiger) had straight-through exhausts (ie without internal silencer and diffuser boxes). This probably reflected concerns about power reduction and a lack of space in the engine compartment. The consequence was a very significant signal saying "I'm here, shoot me" both with a very rasping exhaust note and plumes of hot exhaust gases. It was one of the significant and often overlooked shortcomings of German WW2 armour. The Flamenvernichter were a retrospective and not very effective attempt to reduce the exhaust signature.

You can get a good feel for the problem here:



All the best.

Stephen

I find it best to ring him, he does like a chat.

Paul.

chris i have had 2 exhaust sets from steve, they are a lot of work to make even though they look simple, the vents are painful to make,cutting out, twisting the vanes and to replicate the slight dip, and solder, if you look at my jagdpanther/panther build its there, if you can get him to make them they are superb and worth every penny, regards simon manning

Hi Chris.
Many very late Panthers were fitted with standard straight through exhausts so if you cannot get a set of flamenvirnichter the standard ones are ok.
Regards
Steve

The Flammenvernichter were thought to extinguish flames and sparks which could show the real position of the tank at night making possible to combat this tank. They were primarily not intended to quieten the noise.

While the ear can only give you a rough position, the eye can dedect exactly all glow, sparks and flames over a very long distance at night; especially when moving. In night combat we could dedect a 'hostile' outpost by his glowing cigarette over a distance of 500 m!