Side skirt armour or schurzen was widely fitted to the German Panthers, especially the Ausf D & A. Not surprising the shurzen were frequently damaged on the battlefield and photos often show that them and their support frames bent and broken, or short of several panels.

The 1/35 Dragon Panther Ausf A and D kits are accurate and in my opinion enjoyable to build. In these Dragon kits the shurzen mounting brackets are made of injection plastic which being rigid does not lend itself to being bent to depict battle damage. Equally the Dragon shurzen plates are made from stamped plastic card, which while thin and in scale has a factory fresh appearance, and is not suited to being bent to shape to depict a tatty frontline Panther.

Contents

This set from Voyager includes PE parts for the shurzen and their supports to replace the plastic kit parts. The shurzen are made from 12 individual PE panels, which are the same dimensions as the plates in the Dragon kit and are accurate against scale plans, and will fit the Dragon kit.

The seven brackets that were attached to the Panther’s sponson were made from flat strips of metal bent to shape. In the Voyager set they are each made from four or five parts and require bending. Being made of thin PE they are more in scale than the Dragon parts and can be easily bent to depict battle damage, benefits which would be most noticeable if several shurzen plates were left off to reveal the thin (and possibly damaged) brackets. As the fasteners on the brackets should align with the shurzen it is important to assemble them carefully.

To save time you could fit the PE shurzen plates onto the brackets included in the Dragon kit and still get the key visual impact of PE. Another option is to fit the (visible) fasteners from Voyager set onto reworked (but not necessarily visible) brackets included in the Dragon kit.

Recommendation

This PE set from Voyager provides an effective way to give the Dragon Panther Ausf A & D a more realistic front line look. Given that shurzen are a feature where PE can most noticeably enhance the Panther’s appearance, I consider that for someone wishing to detail the Panther kit, a PE shurzen set is one of the more worthwhile accessories. Well recommended.

Related Kits

This PE set is intended for DML/Dragon kits

• 6160: Panther Ausf A early.
• 6168: SdKfz 171 Panther A Late (Normandy 44)
• 6244 Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther A Late Type (60th Anniversary of the Normandy Campaign 1944-2004)
• 6164 Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther D 52nd Battalion Kursk

Voyager Model products are available from Puma Models, the Irish and UK distributor.

User Contributed Notes