COBI PzKpfw V Panther Ausf. G Set 2713

COBI's PzKpfw V Panther Ausf. G is a 1:48 model built from 298 blocks, with a rotating turret, a movable gun barrel and working tracks and wheels. All markings are printed onto the blocks.

They filled in a hole in the armour

Earlier Panthers had a rectangular vision port cut into the sloped front plate for the driver, closed by a hinged flap. It let him see out with the hatch shut, and it was a serious weakness: a flat cut-out in an otherwise sloped surface catches a shell instead of deflecting it, and hits near it could crack the plate.

The Ausf. G, from 1944, removed it. The glacis became one continuous sloped plate, and the driver was given a rotating periscope in the roof instead. The hull sides were also steepened, and the ammunition stowage increased.

It is the sort of change that only becomes obvious in retrospect: the fix cost almost nothing, and the vulnerability had existed on every Panther built for the previous eighteen months.

In the COBI range

Part of the compact 1:48 armour series. The large 1:28 Panther Ausf. G "Pudel", captured in the Warsaw Uprising, is set 2655; the Ausf. A is set 2654.

Specifications

Pieces: 298 · Scale: 1:48