Panther Questions

[matrixone]

There is a Tamiya 1/35 scale Panther Ausf.A in my kit stash and might build it later this year.

My question is were there any of the Panther Ausf.A ever painted (or even repainted) in the disc camouflage scheme?
If so, could somebody post a picture of it so I could see it?

I have very few reference books on armor and have tried an internet search but have not turned up much on the subject.


If there was no Panthers painted in the disc camo pattern were any of the Panther Ausf.A tanks painted in the Ambush scheme?
I realize the Ausf.A production might have stopped before the Ambush scheme was ever used I am talking about reconditioned Panthers that were repaired and was returned to service.


Matrixone

 

[moon puppy]

Can't help but...

 

[reconron]

Good question Les,

The production of the Panther Ausf.A run from august 1943 to may 1944 [some sources say june '44].
The ambush scheme first apeared end september 1944,the disc camouflage scheme is also an ambusch scheme by the way,the Germans called both types Licht und Schatten Tarnung,translated as lights and shadows camouflage.
Yes it's hard to find pictures of the Panther Ausf.A with ambush scheme,I couldn't find it in my books
or on the net.But that doesn't mean there was no such thing.It could be as well that some Panther Ausf.A's got a redone ambusch scheme,some Ausf.A's were still active at the end of the war.

Here's a video showing a Panther Ausf.A during the battle for Cologne in March 1944,just 2 months before Germany capitulated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NBI9d0-IfEM

About the old Tamiya Panther Ausf.A kit;...many simplified details or lacking those,no side skirts,rubber band tracks,bad crew figures...a lot of work to make it good looking.[don't want to spoil your fun about this one,but that's the way it is]

If there are people to show a Panther Ausf.A in ambusch scheme,please do so.
[sorry that I cant help you out more,Les]

Greetings,Ron.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Ron for the reply.

I knew it was a long shot that there might be photographs of the disc camo scheme on the Panther Ausf.A.

My Tamiya kit still has the shrink wrap on it but I have no illusions there will be problems with such an old kit.
Actually I built this kit once before in the very early eighties but can't remember too much about the build.

I have the Squadron booklet on the Panther and on the cover it has a painting of a Panther Ausf.G in the ambush scheme but there is not much coverage of the Ausf.A in the booklet.
A few years back I bought one of the Panzer wreck books but this one has little on the Ausf.A in it, only a couple of wrecked hulls.

There were a lot of reconditioned Panthers that were put back into service during the war and maybe I will paint mine as one such machine that was given a disc camouflage pattern during repairs.


Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

After doing more searches on the Inter-web I came across some Panther photographs with the disc camo.
Sadly none of them were the Panther Ausf.A so my model might have to be a what-if.

Matrixone

 

[reconron]

Here's a video showing a Panther Ausf.A during the battle for Cologne in March 1944,just 2 months before Germany capitulated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NBI9d0-IfEM

Sorry folks,it's a typo...has to be:March 1945!

Greetings,Ron.