Heer46 Panther F Schmalturm

As Heer46 announced, that they will expand their range from 15mm / 1:100 into the 28mm / 1:56 scale, i was really, really excited. After the SdKfz 247b, one of the latest novelties is the Panther F Schmalturm.

To be set up, i got myself the Panther Ausf. G by Rubicon (as i am not a big fan of the Zimmerit, the Bolt Action kit was no option), as the Ausf. G is the latest build, so an appropiate base for the Ausf. F, along with some parts from the german stowage set, by Rubicon as well. The Heer46 Schmalturm F (narrow turret) is a resin and metal kit and costs 13,80 EUR.

The kit consists of a turret and adapter plate in resin, and the gun, hatch and infra-red sights in metal.

At first i had to prepare the chassis. I build the Panther added a few bits here and here, made it heavier with my balancing lead for tyres, and added some scratch build side skirts.

The cast of the resin and lead parts is clean, but you can see the fine steps of the 3d printer in the gun and the sides of the turret. A bit of work with sanding paper or paint / thinned down milliput will get rid of it.

You may ask, what about this stepped ring? I'll come to this in a bit, but as i decided to use the turret only with Panther chassis, i modified the turret with the plastic part and will use the adapter plate for some other project.

The adapter plate has different diameters, so you can use it with the Rubicon (left) and Italeri / Warlord (right) kit of the Panther, as well as with the Panzer IVs of both companies. Schmalturm on a Panzer IV? Well, never actually build, but was a concept by Krupp and some of you might even have it in your garage in World of Tanks, as a premium tank. A really nice idea to add this to the kit, so you can use it without hassle with different brands. I haven't checked it, but it should be easily useable with the resin kits of other manufacturers as well.

Continuing to build the turret, just trill a little hole for the infra red sight and hatch, and add the gun. I pinned it into the turret, to have a more secure fit.

The hull receives another infra red sight for the driver. It is easily glued onto the front of the tank.

Primed in two colours and ready to get some colour, the Panther F Schmalturm.

Carsten, the Tightheadprop, painted one of these kits for the Salute 2016 painting competition and made 2nd place in the category historical wargames unit. Congratulations! See the video below for the painting project.

Conclusion
Heer46 offers a nice kit to modify / individualise your tanks. 13,80 Euro might sound a bit expensive at first, but if you keep in mind, that is a small series resin cast and you have a spare plastic turret afterwards (that you could use for a fortification like this or some other conversion project) it is okay. For comparison Forge World charges 14 GBP (roughly 18 Euro) for a small chimera turret, and 16 pounds for the larger ones.

The thoughtful adapter is a bonus and the cast is properly done. This is the start of a new series of paper tank accessoires and prototypes. The kugelblitz turret is the next one to be released, along with some more elaborate projects like larger PaK and even a 1:56 scale Maus.

Link: Heer46