1:35 Panther A Late Crew - WWII

The crew of a late production Panther Ausf. A

This multi-part set contains half figures, that is figures made only from the waist up, so as to fill the open hatches of the turret and the hull. Royal Model casts them in polyurethane resin and completes them with photo-etched components, which take care of the thin elements that would not survive in a casting. The tank is naturally not in the package; the set is fitted into a finished model.

The Panther Ausf. A and its hatches

You recognize late examples of the A version by the cast commander's cupola with eyepieces around its circumference and by the ball mount of the machine gun in the front of the hull, which replaced the earlier slot with a flap. The 75 mm gun with its long barrel gave the machine an exceptional range for its day and the sloped armor plates increased the resistance of the front. The arrangement of the hatches differed between versions, though, and that is why a set aimed straight at the late A seats better than universal figures.

Seating the half figures

The key thing is to try them dry before the finish. The height of the shoulders above the edge of a hatch decides whether a scene looks natural, and it is fine-tuned by packing out the bottom of the casting. Bend the photo-etched parts over a sharp edge, not in your fingers. You will glue both the resin and the photo-etched metal with cyanoacrylate, and degrease both before painting.

For which builders

• modelers building the Panther Ausf. A with open hatches
• those interested in multi-figure scenes with armored vehicles
• builders who want to give a model scale and a human dimension
• advanced hands working with resin and photo-etched metal

Supplied unassembled and unpainted; the model of the tank is not included.