Academy Panther G Last Production

Instructions continue with Academy's two-manual design. The first is in black & while and actually looks pretty good. With specialty callouts for version specific details. The second manual is on gloss color and has the final 2 steps, parts tree layouts, and markings options.

There are six versions...markings choices...noted as designed by Def. Model. Four have a pair of steel wheels on each side. Details of the stand-out-ish variety noted.

Vers. 1- II Abt. Pzr-Regt 22, near Munich, Germany April 1945. Built by MAN March 1945.
This one has one pair of steel-wheels per side. And you can build this one with an optional earlier or later reinforced turret mantlet. No side-skirts.

Vers. 2- Pzr-Regt 15 of 11th Panzer Division, in Landshut, Germany April 1945. Built by MAN March 1945.
This one has one pair of steel-wheels per side. This one can be built as "421" or "411". No side-skirts.

Vers. 3- Unknown unit in Germany April 1945. Built by MAN March 1945.
Single pait of steel-wheels on each side. No side-skirts. No spare track links on the rear hull-sides.

Vers. 4- Pzr Rgt 3 2nd Pander Div in Germany 1945. Built from Daimler-Benz March 1945.
This one is all rubber rimmed road-wheels. It has side-skirts and has the earlier mantlet.

Vers. 5- Pzr Abt 5 25th Panzer Grenadier Division in Kustrin, Poland February 1945. Built by MHN Sept-Dec 1944.
All-rubber wheels. It has side-skirts.

Vers. 6- 1st SS Panzer Div "LSSAH" in West Hangary March 1945. Built by MAN Dec 1945.
It has the single pair of steel-wheels per side.

Parts Tree A- Lower-hull, side-skirts, rear glacis, rear stowage boxes, jack, and some of the suspension bits. Parts are slide-molded and the side-skirts are beveled and molded thin to be more accurate in terms of thickness.

Parts Tree B- Upper hull and most of the upper hull details.

Parts Tree C & F- C is turret pieces. It has a one-piece barrel, a crude interior block section, and detail parts. F is attached with the later reinforced mantley rear deck heater assembly, later hull MG blister, and an IR commander's scope that I don't think is mentioned in the instructions or markings

Parts Tree D- A mix f road-wheels, suspension, and some hull details. There are four copies of this tree included in the kit, so there will be alot of extras...including parts for earlier G and A variants. They only send enough steel wheels to do four sets of wide assemblies. It looks like Academy will be squeezing a few Panther kits out....maybe an A with AM zimm. As an aside, thanks Academy for the extra engine deck vents and exhausts... I've got a Jagpanther that can use them.

Parts Tree E- Tracks and some miscellaneous details. Academy went with dark-grey metallic styrene...which I like. To me, it's easier to arrange and paint. It may sound silly but they look "heavier", even painted. Anyway, they are link & length.

There's also a small PE fret...grills...and a small decal sheet. There really aren't many markings on the various versions. There's a length of thread for tow cables and a polycap fret for drive sprockets and idlers.

Generally speaking...the kit has a lot of promise. So let's get to cutting some styrene.

We start with the usual lower hull. This is a multi-piece deal but the fit is spot on. Academy has included brace plates for the interior. It all lines up great and holds together without really needing to clamp or band anything to set. The suspension arms pop right into place. The instructions are a little crowded at this step.

The road-wheels look really nice. I decided to not go with any mixing in steel-wheels. If Academy had included a full steel-wheel set...I would have went with that. The wheel assemblies fit tight and fit nicely on the suspension arms.

It's been very hot and humid here so I used a rattle can to shoot a base coat on the roadwheels and lower hull.

While that dried, I shifted gears and started on the rear glacis. One of the stowage boxes fit funny and needed a bit convincing to sit right. That might have been me though.

Back to the roadwheels. I painted the rubber and left the rest until after I settle on a camo scheme.

The upper hull looks okay. It's set-up be used for a variety of versions so there's going to be some bolt-on pieces. The radiator vents are enclosed and rudimentary fans are molded in to place. You really won't be able to see what's below the vents and PE grills. I might have an extra motor kicking about...so I might pop that in.

I added to dry-fit the upper hull to the lower with the road-wheels...just to have a look. You can see where I already put part of the side skirts on...but more on that later. The upper hull fits great.

That's where I have left off for now. I know it's still a bit early in to this build but I've been pretty impressed by Academy so far. I haven't seen any of their "insanity" so far. I'm hoping it's limited to the steel-wheel deal. The tracks worry me some but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Like I said earlier...we're in the middle of the "dog days of summer" and it's really hot ad humid here. It's really killing my painting here. The upside is I'm stuck inside and am actually getting a good bit of building done....it's just spread around a lot to various builds. Once the weather starts cooling down it should time for a painting marathon.