Wednesday, September 27

Meng's Panther A "Late" in 35th scale - now with stripes, "running" gear and new colours...

MENG has released more news and info on their new Panther A "late" model in 35th scale. New boxart & additional kits that add new running gear & four different Zimmerit patterns to the basic kit are in planning. See what we know so far on Meng's new cat...
Meng Models due to release a 35th scale Panther "A"

German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther Ausf. A Late "late"
From Meng Models
Model No# TS-035
Injection moulded plastic, clear & Photo Etched parts included
Panther was the closest thing to "the" perfect German medium tank during WWII. Thanks to its unparalleled performance, it became one of the backbones of the German Army, and helped their armed forces fight on through tough times. Others seeing the worth of its features, armament and technological advancement it was even used by the opponents to the end of the war. Its 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 long tank gun could penetrate almost all the armour of its rivals, and its angled armour provided better protection than the Tiger I. 
The Maybach HL230 engine could propel the tank to a speed of 50km/h on sealed roads, and its wide tracks and interleaved road wheels could travel over more uneven ground that the previous Panzer III &IV's. The Panther was a perfect response to the requirements of German armour units. Now the Panther has become one of the favourite armour kits of modellers, and so, Meng Models have stepped up to the plate.

Panzerbefehlswagen Panther Ausf. A (Sd.Kfz. 267) of the Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland photographed in southern Ukraine in 1944
The TS-035 German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther Ausf. A Late is a replica of the famous WWII Panther A that MENG has designed with the help of The Tank Museum in Bovington, UK and the editor Mr. David Parker of the Meng AFV Modeller magazine. 
The assembled model will be 251.8mm long, 98.6mm wide and 85.27mm high. A total of 1,118 parts are included in the kit. MENG’s team has designed this kit with the experience gained from the previous kits and insisted to bring more fun to different modellers. 

 What lose do we need for this kit? new Zimmerit patterns - no wait FOUR new patterns! Separate sets, each with alternate Zimmerit decals (SPS-050, SPS-051, SPS-052, SPS-053) for the TS-035 Panther Ausf. A Late kit.

When the Panther Ausf.A was put into mass production, the German Army was applying Zimmerit coating on armoured vehicles. As the Panther Ausf.As were produced by different manufacturers, and the German Army didn’t give any exact requirement on the appearance of this manually applied coating, there were many different patterns of Zimmerit coating on the Panther Ausf.As.

MENG has selected the 4 most popular and hard-to-replicate Zimmerit patterns and represent them as water-slide decals. They are:
SPS-050 German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Late Production Zimmerit Decal Type 1
SPS-051 German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Late Production Zimmerit Decal Type 2
SPS-052 German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Late Production Zimmerit Decal Type 3
SPS-053 German Medium Tank Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.A Late Production Zimmerit Decal Type 4
Meng also has in another separate kit - MENG's SPS-049 Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Late Production Tracks & Movable Running Gear Parts 
The interleaved road wheels are one of the most typical features of German tanks in WWII. German engineers cleverly arranged more road wheels without lengthening the chassis. Those road wheels were quite important for the stable driving of the vehicles. German armoured vehicles fitted with interleaved road wheels could hit enemies from a long distance. The Panther was the first mass production medium tank that applied the interleaved road wheel design. 
...As we find out more on this kit we will keep our antennas out and so keep you informed. 'Till then you can always see more of Meng's kits on their website.