COBI Panzer V Panther Set 3099

COBI's Panzer V Panther is a 1:72 model built from 126 blocks, 12 cm long, with a turret that rotates and a barrel that elevates. German markings are printed onto the blocks.

The part that kept breaking

The Panther had an excellent gun, good armour and a reputation to match. It also had a final drive — the last gearset before the drive sprocket — that failed constantly.

The unit had been designed for a tank of around 30 tonnes. The Panther arrived at 45, and the final drive was never redesigned, because redesigning it would have stopped production and Germany had no time. The gears wore out after a few hundred kilometres, and a failure meant the tank stopped where it was.

The consequence shows in the loss figures. A large share of Panthers were not destroyed by enemy fire at all; they broke down on the road and were abandoned or blown up by their own crews, because recovering a 45-tonne tank needed vehicles that were themselves in short supply.

It is the recurring German problem of the later war in one component: an outstanding weapon that could not reliably reach the place where it would have been outstanding.

In the COBI range

Part of the 1:72 mini series. The 1:48 Panther Ausf. G is set 2713; the large 1:28 versions are sets 2654 and 2655.

Specifications

Pieces: 126 · Scale: 1:72
Model dimensions: 12 × 4 × 4.5 cm (4.7 × 1.6 × 1.8 in)