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Forums - Modelling / Kits |
The kits forum is for the discussion of model kits. Typically questions on availability or certain subjects and quality of existing kits are posted here. Short reviews are good here too. |
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| Messages | 7401 |
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| Subject: | Re: Italeri Jagdpanther - is it a late or early version? |  |
| Date: | Apr 18, 2006 |
| From: | Gerald Owens | |
I wrote Cookie when he posted the review on rec.models.scale, and he acknowledged the error, but didn't correct his review on the other website. He based his assumption on the Italeri gun barrel, which depicts the one-piece tube, but the large mantlet collar and the presence of the raised crew compartment heater on the engine deck mark this as a late 1944 model. The guns were interchangeable, and parts were not always used in the order they were produced, so the early gun cannot be used to date the vehicle.
That said, the Tamiya kit portrays the same version (though with the two-piece barrel), and is much better done all round. The Italeri kit borrows much from their Panther A, including the wheels and track, which are very poor, and the heater cowling has the engine grillwork molded at the top, rather than recessed inside at the level of the original deck.
The late variant was in service from late 1944 onward. The 654th Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung (a former Ferdinand battalion) was one that operated the type. They had no unit insignia per se, but they were almost alone in painting a German cross in the middle of the glacis plate. Other armor units considered this undesirable--it looked too much like a target. |
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