1:18 Panther

[captdoug51]

Hi

Need heilp determining the division/unit of
The 21st Century 1:18 Panther G.

Its in what looks like S E Asia camo with turret
no.413 in black with white outline.

I cant seem to id the tank so is it completely
Ficticious or real?

Regards CaptDoug

[tmanthegreat]

Hello Captdoug51. This would be the 1st series 21st Century Toys XD Panther you are talking about... Back in August, we had a thread on pretty much the same topic -- see here: http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/view ... er#p301087

Basically, if you want to decipher German tactical markings, the turret numbers identify it as the 3rd vehicle from the 1st Platoon of the 4th company of some German Panzer unit. German tank ID numbers usually follow this pattern:
4 = Company number (4th company)
1 = Platoon number (1st platoon)
3 = Vehicle number (3rd vehicle)
I found this site to be pretty helpful in understanding how to read WWII German tactical signs: http://www.schwimmwagen.ch/english/tacticalSigns_E.html.

Without a Divisional marking, its a bit difficult to tell the division of the 21c tank straight-out...

You will see on the linked thread that board member Dragon53 found a photo of a knocked out Panther Tank during the Ardennes Campaign which was identified by board member graycap as as being from SS-Panzer Regiment 1, the panzer element of 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte (Kampfgruppe Peiper). The actual tank in the photograph has the same turret # 413, though the cammo pattern is much different than on the 21c model (even when I attempted to recreate the period photo with the 21c tank).

So again, we cannot be exactly certain of the division/unit of the 21c Panther tank... Also note that in the early days, 21c had the tendency to make things that looked good, but weren't necessarily accurate to something real. Think the "Laura Michelle" P-51, "Samantha Payton" P-38, first-series Stuka, etc.

[captdoug51]

Thanks
guess i have to re-paint!