New Jagdpanther available!
The Jagdpanther was a tank destroyer during World War II based on the chassis of the Panther tank. It entered service late in the war (1944) and saw service on the Eastern and Western fronts. The Jagdpanther combined the very powerful 8.8 cm PaK 43 cannon of the Tiger II and the characteristically excellent armor and suspension of the Panther chassis, although it suffered from the general poor state of Germany in the later part of the war, which resulted in small production numbers, shortage in spare parts and poor crew training.
To accommodate the heavier-calibre gun, much as on previous Jagdpanzer-style unturreted tank destroyers, the glacis plate and sloped hull sides of the Jagdpanther were extended up into an integral, turretless fixed casemate as part of the main hull itself to provide a roomy interior.
Jadgpanthers equipped heavy antitank battalions ( schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung ) and they were first encountered in very small numbers late in the Battle of Normandy, where the German 654. schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung ("654th Heavy Antitank Battalion") deployed about 12 Jagdpanthers against British units. Later, significant numbers were concentrated in the West for the Ardennes Offensive. Small amounts of vehicels were also in duty with the 559., 519., 560. and the 655. schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung.
Two main variants can be distinguished, the earlier (1944 model) G1 with a small internally bolted main gun mantlet and a modified Panther A engine deck, and the later (1945 model) G2 with a larger simplified, outside-bolted mantlet and a modified Panther G engine deck, though late G1s also had the larger mantlet. Early Jagdpanthers had two vision openings for the driver and sometimes a stowage box on the rear side of the casemate, whereas late versions had only one opening and generally without the stowage box. The main gun originally had a monobloc gun barrel but later versions were equipped with the Pak 43/4 gun with a two-part barrel. Early G1s (to September 1944) were given Zimmerit anti-magnetic mine coating in a distinctive "small-squared" pattern. The late model had additional side skirts, a fire dumping exhaust and a fighting compartment heater fitted with air conditioning. Some vehicles were delivered as a command car, these were also fitted with a star antenna.
For the update, I created additional to the two types of mantlets, the muzzle brakes, a new chain gear and the engine decks also new single parts like the tools, the ball mounted MG, side skirts, the headlamp at left front fender, separate wheel, track links as additional armor and jerry cans. Early model has the tools mainly fixed on the sidewalls, Late model has it mainly fixed on the rear, mostly not visible. Exception is hereby the wooden block on the side wall, the hammer on the engine deck and the fire red extinguisher on the backside of the casemate. Very difficult to display are the versions with the Zimmerit coat and the Early version with the additional pipes for cooling of the exhaust gases, so there are still experimenting work to do. In the next days I want to add also the tow cables. And here are the new icon versions:
-Early model without stowage box
-Same with the box
-Late model with welded on container for gun barrel cleaning equipment on the side wall
-Same with container at the rear to protect the equipment in narrow passages
-Command car with star antenna and additional equipment like separate wheel and jerry cans
- Jagdpantherfinalud.png (156.45 KiB) Viewed 8062 times
Someone wants another version?
Questions to T2_2112:
Are you satisfied with the engine decks? Do you see the mesh wire covered (Early) and the non covered (Late) air intakes and the updated ball mounted MG?
Questions to Guille:
(1) Do you see it also that we now have a variety of 8.8cm guns with different looks of the muzzle brakes every time? Should these muzzle brakes don’t has the same shape or depends the look of that on the overall appearance of the vehicle?
(2) With the size and the setting of the national insignias I try to separate the new icons from the older one and to separate the icon also from Early to Late model. Is it ok for you?
(3) Icon Level left/right side: If you go into the deep pixel level of the old icon you can see that the underline of the chain gear is at the same line for the left and the right icon. But…if you go then to the gun barrels then you can see that the right icon gun barrel is one pixel above the left icon gun barrel. Any comments?
(4) The masks are now difficult to make because you have to observe the additional (colored) details. Is this a problem? We have further to correct the barrel shadows, I try a little bit at the right side, not finished.
Greetings!
