COBI Pz.Kpfw. V Panther Ausf. A Set 2654

COBI's Pz.Kpfw. V Panther Ausf. A is a 1:28 model built from 1,152 blocks, 32 cm long, with a removable rotating turret, a movable gun, working tracks on a newly designed track pattern, opening hatches and a removable engine under the service flap. A German tank crewman figure and a printed nameplate are included.

It was made in cooperation with the Armoured Museum in Kłanino, whose Panther is the only one in Poland, and the model reproduces that particular vehicle.

Look at the road wheels

They overlap. The Panther's wheels are arranged in interleaved rows — each one partly covering its neighbours — and that arrangement is the most consequential design decision on the tank.

The reason for it was ground pressure. Overlapping wheels spread 45 tonnes across far more of the track's surface than a conventional layout, which is why a tank this heavy could cross ground that bogged down lighter ones, and why the ride was smooth enough for the gunner to shoot accurately on the move.

The cost showed up in Russia. Mud and snow packed into the gaps between the wheel rows, and overnight it froze solid — crews woke to tanks that would not move until the ice had been chipped or burned out. Worse, replacing a damaged inner wheel meant first removing several outer ones, which turned a routine repair into a half-day job with a crane.

The Panther itself was Germany's direct answer to the T-34, and the sloped frontal armour on this model is copied from it. It went into action at Kursk in 1943 with the transmission still unfinished, and became a formidable tank once the faults were worked out.

In the COBI range

Set 2655 is the Panther Ausf. G "Pudel", captured by insurgents during the Warsaw Uprising.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,152 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:28 · Removable engine and turret
Model dimensions: 32 × 13 × 11 cm (12.6 × 5.1 × 4.3 in)