I’ll leap to an assumption here and surmise that the majority of modellers that buy kits like this just want a cool subject to build without wondering if it will break the bank, absorb too much of their time or test their skill unduly.
Over the years there have been many kits that modellers have either loved or hated in equal measure, but none that seems to have caused as much commentary as Tamiya’s venerable Panther A. Released at the end of the 60s (yes, that long ago) the kit has been on continuous sale ever since, racking up hundreds of thousands of kit sales for Tamiya making it easily one of their best-selling products. Indeed, you can visit almost any model shop today and you will see examples of this kit for pocket money prices, there to tantalise anyone keen to tackle a ‘tank kit’ maybe for the first time.
It’s ubiquity is perhaps the reason why it’s so widely discussed, that and its cost. The more that buy it, the more chance you have that a modeller will grab one take it home and then discuss their purchase on their favourite social media page. Follow any page for long enough and you’ll see this kit appear again and again and again, and every time it does, you’ll see the same arguments, the same comments that it’s awful, the same defence lines that it’s old and cheap and easy to build. Such is the frequency of these posts, I’d almost miss them if they weren’t there. Almost.
Let’s first deal with the elephant that’s squatting in the corner of the modelling room vying for attention: Tamiya’s Panther A is an awful replica of the Panther. In every possible way it leaves much to be desired. Its accuracy is all over the place; dimensions are so far off it almost looks like a caricature; the suspension and wheels are incomplete; tracks too short(ish) and detail where present, is heavy-handed and spurious. It’s as poor a replica as you could wish for and there are far better kits out there to use should you wish to build an accurate depiction of any of the Panther variants.
Whenever I read anything about this kit, I’m struck by how many modellers simply jump on the bandwagon to tell everyone else that they’ve wasted their money, it’s crap and that they should have gone elsewhere for their Panther fix. Pundits will announce with alacrity, that Tamiya should simply bin their Panther A (not likely given it’s reputation as a goose that keeps on laying golden eggs…) and that by continuing to sell this travesty of a kit, they are doing untold harm to their own reputation and the enthusiasm of those silly enough to buy one in the first place. I get it, they are valid points, but do they need to be repeated every single time this kit is mentioned?!
The negative comments are certainly justified. When faced with the litany of minus points, it’s hard to argue against many of them and if I was planning to build an accurate Panther I’d look elsewhere. So why then when I built this kit did I enjoy it so much?
Having given a true picture of what you can expect from the kit, how about we also look at some counterpoints?
All of the negativity misses the fact that they are cheap, easily accessible and simple to build. I’ll leap to an assumption here and surmise that the majority of modellers that buy kits like this just want a cool subject to build without wondering if it will break the bank, absorb too much of their time or test their skill unduly. They may have looked in the box, seen that there are only a handful of parts to construct and then figured that this might be a gateway to a few pleasant hours of assembly and if the mood takes them, some painting and a little weathering here and there.
A few years ago, midway through my Legacy Collection of builds, I was given the Panther to do as part of Tamiya’s Top 5 best sellers list. Having constructed some rather nicer kits from that list (Panzer II, Flak 37, Hanomag and Chieftain) I was reticent to deal with the Panther because I was well-aware of how awful it was. It was only when Jonathan Mock challenged me to a 10-day build, that I had a go. And yes, it was a bear to bring up to the standards I wanted. But here’s the thing, as soon as I decided to add some detail to the model, improve what was on offer and do all of that with no recourse to the aftermarket, I had a blast! At no point did I consider rectifying the kit’s dimensional issues (what would have been the point?!) instead, choosing to improve the surface of the model, look at those missing roadwheels, finesse the details, add skirts and then paint it with a nice coat of camouflage, degraded with some delicate layers of weathering. Hell, I even used the kit tracks that I had been told were too short and impossible to join! I used basic materials, very simple techniques and tools that any modeller could fin in their workroom. And at the end of my time with the kit, not only did I have a model that I really love (faults and all) I had learned how to improve similar kits using the same ideas, technique and materials…and all of that for less that £20. Now isn’t that something to write home about: the world’s most maligned armour kit, tamed at last?!
No amount of words on here is going to stop the debates that rage around this kit. I think it’s now too entrenched in the psyche of the modelling world to be anything other than a polarising subject. I certainly see both sides of the argument and partially understand the need to point out how poor it is as a replica. I do wish though that discussions could be a little more balanced so that when it is talked about, some positive ideas could be heard above the hullabaloo of those that continue to malign something so simple, when actually kits such as Tamiya’s 50 year old Panther A have as much right to exist in our world, as one that has only existed for the last 6 months.
See you next time.
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