Happens to us all. The dreaded ‘carpet monster’ eats parts (even if you don’t have a carpeted hobby space.) I’ve spent countless hours on my hands and knees, with a flashlight to illuminate the dark corners, looking for some lost part. In my case it’s usually the dreaded F-23.
I’m sure that when I die, and my poor son has to dismantle my workshop, he’ll find dozens of them and many others, and wonder even more strongly, ‘what the hell was he doing in here?’
Carry on, my friend…
Ralph
@Dioramartin Tim, thank you for the kind words. I like your Panther D, the markings perfectly locate making pistol port placement moot!
@Bravo36 Ralph, yes I know that feeling. If we ever move there is no telling what all will be found under the blind side of the desk against the storage rack…Jimmy Hoffa may even be down there.
Still hope E15 turns up in the hobby room. E15 launched three feet in the air and came down in very difficult area to search. Maybe Kali will find it. Worst case, I’ll make a resin copy of E15 from another Dragon Panther.
Steps 19 to 22 Turret Assembly
These were treated as one big step since there really isn’t that many parts involved. Goal was always best fitment so small parts went on last after major part fit got resolved to my satisfaction. Carefully clean up and holding major parts in position took care of all fitment.
J28 the pistol port plug above, has an odd looking round mark in the center. Since this is on the punch side of the mold it could be a punch mark. However, the actual pistol port plug has a similar mark. Based on reference pictures available I toned down the hard edge slightly on J28 to more closely match pictures.
E15 #v2.01 repaired and glued in place.
More Dragon comedy, those dovetail interlocks are ~2mm in 35th scale or 70mm of side armor in 1 to 1 scale…way too thick. Not about fo try to fix that scale thickness. Covering up the seam in the interlock is annoying enough. Thinned Molak Stucco Putty and #11 blade for flame texturing edge.
Of course, the kit location of the cupola was wrong according to my Panzer Police Experten friends. Here’s their reference of kit position and correct position. Again we’re taking what ~1mm?
Here’s where this Panther D’s cupola landed.
I said WTF, I’m happy with that!
The kit MG 34 barrel isn’t worthy of being called an MG in my opinion so Aber to the rescue. Had to add a small disc from the punch and die set to mount the Aber short MG 34.
Love the turned brass even it its mostly hidden.
I dreaded the smoke dischargers but they turned out to be a cake walk. The drum cupola halves J13 & J14 have a VERY NASTY seam in the middle through the vision ports. As ever, Molak Stucco Putty, more Molak Stucco Putty and thinned Molak Stucco Putty to the rescue with #400, #600 & #1000 sanding love. Final coat of thinned Molak for texture. I left J30 unglued to aid painting fake vision blocks later.
Overall, I think Dragon did pretty well with the turret for 2002. Aber brass MG 34, Molak Stucco Putty texture, #11 blade flame cuts and otherwise stock.
Couldn’t quite call it a night until the 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 (aka 75LL in Squad Leader/Cross of Iron) was fitted.
File fitted an Eduard L/70, I found in the stash. It made the turret nose heavy (lol) added ball bearing ballast to rear of turret and fixed with super glue. I think the turret is balanced well enough now not to sit cattywampus.
Touch ups tomorrow, if passes inspection, wash, dry over weekend start painting on Monday.
You’re most welcome & thanks. As I quickly don full Kevlar…did the Experten ever discuss the faint casting circles on the mantlet of (some?) Panthers, one either side of the gun? Somewhere around 2012 (just after I’d built mine sans circles, natch) a furious debate erupted on Missing Links about them. Soon after Tamiya released a D (#35345) which included them…
I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t care, I didn’t either. While a few period photos did show them (none of which I can find tonight doing a quick Google), it’s hard to see any sign of them in most photos 
Oh yes! There was something of an uproar when Tamiya’s Steel Wheel Panther G’s from the mid 1990’s released with the mantlet that included the big circle.
Probably fearing yours truly would riot & loot the stash because Big T had a nasty punch mark on the face of one of the mantlet 
fellow Panzer Policemen preemptively acted to restore order. They found several pictures of the circle marks on Panther’s and shared the information.
Had to dig into the stash because I didn’t recall if it was the Tamiya Late Panther G or Steel Wheel G. The Late G had the seam on the mantlet face which is also supposed to be there. Good news, found a set Fruilmodel’s, Royal resin and other goodies in the Late G’s box. How quickly I’ve forgotten details from ~25 years ago…lol…ah the wonder of the middle-aged.
I visit Missing Lynx but rarely post. It usually seems focused on hair splitting to a great degree. That isn’t really my cup of tea, others can have their fun with that. I do enjoy reading the information sometimes. My good friend’s used to read and lurk that forum everyday…so I always got “updated” back in the day…I really only take so much Vomag did this but MHN did that while Damiler Benz did something else…I appreciate it for Panzer IV’s, Tiger’s & Panther’s otherwise…YAWN…
With the construction essentially completed, time for Wade’s World! Model Time! - Rating!
I’d previously cleaned up punch marks, hollowed the guide teeth and assembled the tracks. Very labor intensive but doable. IiRC correctly track loops were done before the upper and lower hulls were assembled. Given all the great track options, I may replace the kit tracks since I’m happy with how this old dog wrapped.
3 Price $45 to $58 (now? LOL!) vs ~ $35 in 2002, I would pay ~$5 to $8 for another copy of this kit today.
2 Instructions - poor with crappy pictures, lousey parts placement, you’ll likely need reference to help supplement construction
3 Molding Quality - pretty good, bolt details etc still soft vs Tamiya of that era in my opinion
5 Plastic Quality - much better my last few new eta Dragon kits.
3 Parts Clean Up - nasty punch marks, wheel faces, tracks inside face and many exterior parts, lots of attachment points etc
2 Ease of build Based on old school individual link non magic tracks, finicky hull alignment front seams, overall a lot seams for an armor model, main gun, main gun cleaning kit, turret face dove tail & cupola. Some modelers aren’t ready for that much seam work in an AFV kit
0 Accuracy - Another Epic Dragon Fail
Box says Kursk Panther D and technically the model in the box doesn’t have the correct parts or instructions to build a Kursk Panther D. I’m harsh and view this as false advertising due to ignorance on Dragon’s part, hence the zero. I bought three copies of this bastard when it was a new release based on it being what was advertised on the box.
4 Fit While I had issue with upper and lower hull, not convinced (yet) that is a serial issue and give Dragon benefit of doubt. Overall kit fits well with good part clean up. Very surprised smoke dischargers fit perfect.
0 Doesn’t Require Aftermarket Needs engine deck screens, benefits from many additional aftermarket parts
3 Details built Out of the Box
25 points out of 50
If kit had been named Panther D instead Kursk Panther D - Accuracy rating of 4 for 29 out of 50
While I would build this kit again, I wouldn’t recommend this kit to anyone unless they are looking an old school nostalgia build. Overall I had a lot of fun building. Wish this specific shelf queen had went back on the bench much sooner.
Beautiful builds, looking forward to the next installments! Also, I happened to be looking at another thread about Soviet jerry cans and realized that the Italeri German jerry cans are actually the British Blitz type jerry cans. I saw the Blitz jerry cans and thought they looked familiar, and, sure enough, they matched your Italeri jerry cans. Perfectly feasible for the Germans to have picked one or two up, so no need to change. Thought I’d just point out that little tid-bit.
@CKPlasticModels Colin, thank you for the kind comments. That’s awesome information on the Italeri German Jerry cans! Thank you for sharing that.
As for the next Panther build, some time will be focused on painting so building will slow down. With that said, build wise is there any specific kit folks want see next?
Meng - Panther (D or A) or JagdPanther
Takom - Panther (A or G)
RFM - Panther (F) or JagdPanther
Meng - Panther D - I have it in my stash and the instructions have multiple choice and not sure which choice goes with what build option.
Cheers
I may have missed it, but what did you decide to do about tracks? Are there good aftermarket tracks for Panthers?
yes, Trex
There’s a lot of quality aftermarket options for tracks. Fruil, Sector 35 plus lots of 3D printed ones etc.
My intention is to use the kit tracks if possible since many hours were spent hollowing out guide teeth and fixing four punch marks per link.
The kit track links are OK for their era.
Four punch marks and two attachments per link.
The track runs. They’ve bounced around for four moves and need a few broken guide teeth fixed.
Side
Inside faces
Outside face, no V tread for early Panther D
If they look crappy painted, I’ll slap a set of Fruilmodel Panther D’s on the model. They may look crappy given there like 650+ punch marks that were fixed or I think they are fixed 
Hats off to your fanaticism. 
That is the one…
I liked the T-rex T-55 tracks I used. Somehow I had missed they have Panther tracks. I guess the next question is, when does the break between early Panther tracks and late Panther tracks occur? That there are early tracks makes me pretty confident a Kursk D would have them, but am curious whether the As also had early tracks and for how long. The few pics I can access quickly, I can’t really tell by looking at them…
Per this reference book. Note the chevrons on this Panther G’s tracks.
Six chevrons on the track face was introduced starting in Sept of 1943. Same time factory zimmerit was introduced. It appears, that six chevrons are the last change introduced during the D model production run.
~115 Panther D produced in August 1943
~37 Panther D produced in Sept 1943
FWIW - Panther A production starts with #851 at end of August start of September.
Here’s an early D picture that just rocks from around ~September 1943. Note what appears to be one 16 bolt + 16 rivet wheels stored on the rear. No chevrons on tracks of course.
Last/late D models with six chevrons tracks according to the book.
@robbd01 Robbie, the Meng Panther D will be next.
I hope Meng’s reputation of quality precision engineering is well earned because the kit design makes me stressed out with the frame work approach for the upper hull and turret.
Comet A34’s Build Video - Meng Panther D is well worth checout to get a feel for the kit. From what I see, the Meng looks like it can be built as a Kursk Panther D without much fuss.
David Coyne’s Meng Panther D Build on Track Link is very well done. He address the Meng option list.
See Panzermeister36 YouTube review of All aftermarket tracks. My problem is finding a vendor with any of the good ones in stock
@Bravo36 Ralph, thank you for the tip about the track review video. I’ll definitely check it out. Seems like Evan/Panzermeister36 went all out to do an excellent review.
Have to comment on Plastic Model Store in Ukraine 
and the Sector 35’s. Overall, the cost of each set of assembled Sector35 tracks was slightly less than ordering an equivalent set direct from Friulmodellismo. Excellent product if one likes white metal tracks. I ordered several times from Plastic Model Store with excellent customer service and satisfaction before the Russian invasion.
Sector35 also has a nice selection of German WW2 etc.
I’ve had a lot of luck with Plastic Model Store, too. Either through Amazon, or directly. But I haven’t tried those tracks. I will, though. Thx
