Zvezda snap-fit early-variant Panther - Pz. Abt. 51 Panther Ausf. D of the 9th Pz. Div, Kursk July 1943

Having completed a couple of the Zvezda snap-fit 1:72 scale Luftwaffe fighters I thought I'd have a look at one of their snap-together AFVs - this is their early variant Kursk Panther, which, er...,  just snaps together. The fit of road wheels and tracks is particularly ingenious - the outer wheels have pins which clip into lugs on the rim of the track and so hold everything in place securely and invisibly - well it was new to me at least...below; a few shots of progress on this build so far..

The tracks are on and done up and the hull deck is secured. Strangely only one of the tracks joins at the top out of sight under the skirts - the other join is under the road wheels. The fit is very tight and the road wheel assembly is under quite a bit of tension.

The Panthers at Kursk equipped the Pz. Abt. 51. Markings in the box are provided for "434 and " 445" which obviously would have looked something like "442" illustrated below - the pic is from the collection of my good friend Didier Lodieu who published a two-part feature on Pz. Abt. 51 Panthers in Heimdal's 39-45 Magazine a few years ago...