I started a Tamiya Panther 1/25
I intend to base it on Panther 534 , 5th SS, Wiking.
When done, it will feature an almost complete set of shurtzen, milliput zimmerit coating and a classic 3 color camouflage scheme.
The kit is impressive but has many incorrect details and is noticeably off in scale in many areas, particularly the turret and gun.
Tamiya Panther 1/25 gun:
Gun barrel is not long enough.
Gun barrel does not include a Muzzle Brake locking collar.
Muzzle Brake is not shaped correctly.
Muzzle Brake is hollow and missing detail.
The pictures below indicate the work done to correct the gun and muzzle brake.
Tamiya 1/25, Commanders Copula:
Copula location on the turret top is not correct ... it should line up with the turret back plate and BOTH turret right side plates.
Copula side armor is not angled steep enough relative to the vertical line of the turret top plate.
Copula side armor is not high enough in profile.
Armored periscope guards are not high enough in profile.
Armored periscope guards have no back plate.
Armored periscope guards do not look heavy enough (the plastic is molded too thin)
No periscopes are included.
Hatch lid armor is not shaped correctly around where the hatch swing arm attaches and the swing arm does not appear to be a separate part from the hatch lid (because it is molded onto the hatch lid).
Hatch lid swing arm extends too far beyond the hatch (it is too long) so the swing arm pivot axis is located too far away from the hatch lid.
The armored guard around the swing arm pivot is poor.
There is no curved bulge in the copula side armor along the vertical line of the hatch swing arm pivot.
Instead, there is an awful rectangular piece of plastic molded there
As a result, I scratch built a commanders copula retaining only the hatch lid and AA machine gun tracking ring.
Both of these parts required modification however.
Tamiya Panther 1/25 turret:
Turret is too wide in scale.
This also applies to the Gun Mantle and Armored Gun Trunion Housing, behind the Gun Mantle.
Side armor plate angles are not correct along the base of the turret.
Rear armor plate details are poor.
Turret top weld seams are not correct
Loaders Periscope armored guard is too wide and is not located properly.
Loaders Periscope is not included.
Turret lifting loops are incorrect.
Grab handle on the top turret rear is not wide enough and is not shaped correctly.
Turret Ventilator Plate has no ventilation openings.
Armored Gun Trunion Housing is poor.
Gun Mantle is not shaped correctly in profile, is not offset relative to the turret front and the cast collar where the base of the gun is located is not thick enough in diameter and does not actually house the gun base for recoil purposes.
Steele wedges used to prevent the gun from being lowered too much are not included.
For those who do not know, Panther Gun Mantles are not symmetrical when viewed from the front.
That is, when viewed from the front, the section of frontal armor to the left of the gun base is slightly wider than the section of armor to the right of the gun base.
This is the offset I describe above.
Moreover, the gun mantle and armored gun trunion housing actually extend a bit further to the left of the turret front plate than they extend to the right, when viewed from the front. This allows the gun to be located down the center axis of the turret and hull.
I rebuilt the turret mostly from scratch.
The only kit parts retained were:
Gun Mantle
Turret bottom plate
turret side plates
The turret bottom plate was trimmed to reduce the width and correct the side plate angles.
The side plates were cut apart, refitted and resurfaced with white sheet plastic.
The Gun Mantle was modified extensively to achieve:
correct width,
correct offset
correct gun base aperture and diameter,
correct armor thickness.
correct profile shape and gun trunion fit.
binocular gun sight and rain guard
Finally, I did not replicate turret side and front plate weld joins as they would pretty much be invisible after the zimmerit coating is applied.