ICM's 1/35 Panzer V Panther Ausf. D   By Kent Kirkpatrick

Panther Ausf. D

From the information on the kit box, without a doubt the Panther is the most famous German tank of World War II. The first serial variant was the D version. The mass production began in January of 1943. Panther ausf. D tanks received the baptism of fire during Operation Citadel in the summer of 1943. Later they were widely used in the Eastern Front, in Italy, and ater the D-Day invasion in the Western Front. Panther tanks had a very powerful 75mm gun and reliable armor but were too heavy and complicated in the production and service. Notwithstanding, the Panther was the most serious enemy for any World War II tank.

The Kit

ICM's boxart displays a Panther D from the Gross Deutschland Division in a two-tone cammo scheme. This will assist you in painting and marking your model when you have built it. Inside the box you will find two sealed bags. One containing eight-page instructions and a decal sheet. The other containing four part sprues molded in a mustard yellow soft styrene, upper and lower hull and four track-link sprues molded in a black styrene.
The well-illustrated instruction sheet has a parts location diagram and a legend for symbols like drilling, bending, unused parts, etc. The twenty nine step assembly begins with the lower hull, suspension, drive sprockets, idlers, road wheels and exhausts in steps 1-9. This will be the most time consuming assembly of the kit since this is a tank with overlapping road wheels. Get ready for some sanding of the wheels . . . boring but necessary. So far a simple and straight forward assembly. Steps 10 - 13 finish other lower hull details such as the stowage bins, lifting clevis, jack and head light. The only lower hull interior detail is in step 14 with the driver and assistant driver periscopes and machine gun port. The upper hull is mated to the assembly lower hull in step 15. The upper hull is detailed in this step, 21 and 22. These include driver and engine hatches, gun cleaning tube, tool stowage, fenders and engine grates. ICM has engineered this kit to accept an aftermarket engine compartment and interior. In step 23 you will have the tedious task of assembling the individual track links for each side and mounting them to the lower hull. The track links could be replaced by some aftermarket ones that have better detailed but no necessary. The turret is assembled in steps 24 - 28. My only complaint here is the two piece 75 mm gun barrel. Molding technology should allow for a better alternative. This kit contains a rudimentary gun breech but that's it. Its nice that all hatches can be positioned open or closed if you choose to man your Panther with a full crew or as a static model. You might want to rough up the surface of the lower hull and turret to simulate rolled steel which is pock marked not smooth. This would also apply to the gun mantlet. Final assembly is completed in step 29 where the completed turret, tow cables, gun lock and side skirts.
Once the assembly is complete you have the choice of two marked Panthers. The decal sheet is thin and very well printed. Markings include the 39th Armored Regiment in the Kursk Bulge in July of 1943 or the Gross Deutschland Divsion in August of 1943. Painting instructions recommend using Model Master's Flat Tan (#1567) and European Green (1764) for the two-tone cammo scheme.

Conclusion

If you don't want to spend big bucks on a Panther kit you can't go wrong with this ICM Panther D. The overall kit is very nice in 1/35th but lacks some surface texturing of other Panther kits but not in level of detail. I highly recommend this kit to any German armor modeler. I would like to thank ICM for the review kit.