This is a model representing a rare prototype of Panther (some call these “paper panzers”) that has been evaluated after shoortcomings were revealed by usage of Panther D, most notably during Kursk battle.
This Panther A should have been a bit longer, with different angles and dimensions from its predecessor. It is unknown whether a prototype had ever been made using these plans. Its paper drawings, as i presume, were destroyed/burned during Allied bombing raids, so Germans were in need to speed up production of Panthers, so “A” ‚as we know it today, are made up by simple upgrades of existing “D”.
Some may believe that documentation for this tank was sent to Japan (which later bought one Tiger and one Panther, but never have been able to transport it to Japan), and those documents were found in Japanese archives.It might be speculated that the person that found these documents was a distant cousin of Hasegawa owner, stripped from inheriting company’s share from the will, and hence offered these drawings to competitive company -Tamiya. At that time, origami and various forms of paper art was favored by Japanese, and it was believed that paper panzers might go well on the modellers market…
Or, they had wrong calculation when scaling down the tank, and missed some angles.
If you want something cheap that resembles Panther, go with Italeri, but use the wheels from this Tamiya.
Almost all Panther A had zimmerit, so you should use this one for practicing.
PS: i used a lot of immagination to write this, it is not historically accurate!
LOL I had to change shirts this morning after spilling my coffee I laughed so hard see those comments:) Thank you, you’ve made my morning:)
I’d rather build the 1968 Tamiya kit over 1994 Italeri between those two turds. At least the Tamiya fits together and the turret doesn’t sit so high.
@RonW Ron, I’m in too…we just need a fearless leader. I find the older kits more fun than the newer it seems.
As for Panther spares, I might be able to round up a few things like a set of newer Tamiya Rubber band tracks to help etc
@Panzer_modeler Ezra, indeed the contents in the Lindy T-55 look to have been scooped out of a big cat’s litter pan. Sounds like an honorary Alley-Cat’s style kit for these purposes. If you’re up for a Lindy T-55 group build, I’ll order another 2oz bottle of super glue for filler and join. @Topsmith is right the very name Lindberg makes me cringe regarding models.
If you want to know how good/bad these old Tamiya kits are, try one of the early Alan kits, especially some of the Russian stuff. I built their old Flakpanzer Gepard (on 38T chassis). I’ve never given up on a kit without completing it, but that one ran me pretty close!
So it is not only the missing wheels and the turret dimensions, but pretty much the entire vehicle that is wrong??
Not going anywhere near it. Nope. Not even for $13.
Yes, the entire kit is wrong. It was introduced as a motorized model. The hull is completely wrong because it was designed around 2 “C” batteries and a gearbox, not the tank’s dimensions. The rest of the kit was scaled off of this, which throws off everything.
Well, in defence of Lindberg, I was blown away by their 1:72 aircraft range when I first encountered them (in my village grocer’s of all places) - Me 163, FW 190, He 162, and some others I can’t now remember; this must have been back in around 1964, or possibly 65? I thought the box-art was pretty cool too. At the time I’d never even heard of the Me 163 and the Heinkel. And there I was, my 10 year-old nose pressed up against the shop window, with longing - they were just too expensive!
I had to change shirts this morning after spilling my coffee 
I laughed so hard see those comments:) Thank you, you’ve made my morning:)
Alley-Cat’s 
-brands …
