Panther G question

[M@ximus]

Hey everybody,

I have a couple of questions regarding the Panther G early . Right now I have started tamiya's Panther G early kit. I have some experince with panthers. I have built DML's excellent Panther A late kit. But i usualy build kits out of boxes with minimal references and minimal us eof PE( I never really got into it).

first off what are the boxes/cases on the rear of the panther near the exhaust? I have been told different explinations.

secound, my tank will represent a Panther from the 2nd SS panzer division in normandy. I want to show it has been in many battles and has been hit by a couple of tank shells but not knocked out. I was wondering if a sherman shell hit the panther how would that look like? any one have any color photo's of hit panthers? All i ahve seen were white and black but they didn't help.

Another idea I had was the shell would dent the metal, rip of the zimmerit and expose the red primer and maybe show off some burnt marks? does this sound like a good realistic idea?

thanks if you guys can help me

[Ebbe Bergman]

Hi!
I think the boxes is for storing things in them like crews personal cloths and onther stuff.

There is a photo of a panther G from Hitlerjugend that has bein hit in the cupola...the tank number is 138 I think that was handed over to 21st pz.
I have done similar to my panther G just took away some of the periscope for exampel.
Well a frontal shot might have bounced away but leaving a rather deap scare or got stuck in the armour and then it would look like a hole I guess.

If zimmerit has fallen off I guess yellow would be shown maby some prime but I think more of the yellow...yeah some black would accure from the blast I guess.
Cheers!
Ebbe

[brummbaer2]

The two boxes were indeed for crew stowage.
Glancing hits on armor that don't penetrate look like scoop marks in semi-soft ice cream. If direct, then a moon crater with peel back or if deeper the butt end of the ap round would stick out of the armor and be visible with the peel back around it.
Sometimes the Zimmerit would be blown away or burned off, but it often showed little damage beyond a couple of cm or so from the peel back area - Zimmerit was tough stuff when applied correctly. One reason for discontinuing its use was the anecdotal impression that it was too prone to catch fire and led to the tank being burned out. I've seen photos of what look like ap hits that burned and hollow-charge hits that didn't, so I don't really know if the impressions were correct, but that's what the German battle reports said.
Proper application included heating the Zimmerit resin with a torch to harden it (and it obviously didn't catch fire then). If the Zimmerit is gone, then I'd think you'd be down to bare metal or scorched metal with lots of carbon residue as the case may be. Sticking to the primer and then leaving the primer behind doesn't sound very likely to me.
The only time I saw a panzer "live" when the Zimmerit had been removed was at Aberdeen many years ago. Some kids had chipped some of the Zimmerit off with a knife and tarnished metal was left underneath - doesn't mean that that happened every time, though.
The camouflage paints were applied over the Zimmerit except for field applications.