For a long time if you wanted to have a model tank with zimmerit on it you were pretty much limited to doing it yourself. Then along came after-market add on sets from manufacturers like Atak, Cavalier and Eduard, in varying mediums including paper, resin and photo etched brass. These days we also now get Dragon Zimmerit on many of their releases, where the kit comes with it already moulded on. Somehwere in the middle Tamiya ventured into the “Upgraded Kit” territory with kits that added Friul tracks or Aber metal barrels, or as with this case Eduard Zimmerit. These were however usually limited edition kits.
The base kit here is the same kit as the Tamiya Panther Ausf. G Early so as such this review will cover the Panther itself primarily with mention of the Zimmerit add-on where applicable, finishing with a brief look at the Eduard Zimmerit Set itself at the end.
This kit comes in a large tray and lid style box and contains four dark yellow sprues, the hull tub and upper body, both also moulded in dark yellow, and one black sprue that contains individual track links. Also included is two single length vinyl tracks, a sheet of decals, and a bag which contains a long bolt and nut, four vinyl polycaps, and a length of coiled copper wire. And of course the Eduard Zimmerit set which comes with an additional set of instructions.
The mouldings are the typical Tamiya quality which is to say that they are very good with no flash, and minimal clean up of mould seams. There are some injector marks to deal with but nothing that should detract from the kit overall. The detail is nice and sharp. It can be a little over simplified in places as is the Tamiya way, with some pieces being a little heavier than ideal but overall the finish is very good.
The instructions in this particular kit are specific to this kit so show the Zimmerit application as you go, though there is also a second set of instructions that deals with specifics of working with the zimmerit set. So if you are adding the zimmerit you’ll need to make sure you work with both sets of instructions to ensure that everything gets done at the right time, in the right order. But both are clear and easy to follow making assembly very easy.
The chassis consists of a single piece hull tub with individual parts for the suspension arms, which allows them to be easily articulated if desired to show the wheels passing over uneven surfaces. The tub has good detailing including the underside covers and the bumpstops. The roadwheels are each made of two parts which gives the best level of detail on both the inside and outside with very nice, sharp bolt detail. The idlers and sprockets contain polycaps which allow them to be pushed into place and pulled off again which makes removing the tracks for painting very easy. Again they all have very nice, sharp detail. The tracks, as mentioned, are single length vinyl “rubber band” style. Although they do look quire good they do lack the hollow guide horns and the proper edge definition that you get with individual link tracks.
The upper hull is moulded as a single piece which when joined to the lower hull avoids one problem that afflicts many Tamiya kits, that being that this kit does not have open sponsons. The detailing is very nice and includes a three piece MG ball, periscopes for the driver and radio operator and seaparate hatches for the driver and radio operator that include separate parts for making the internal locking mechanism. This allows the hatches to look very good posed open though there is then no other interior.
The rest of the upper hull includes a separate engine hatch that can be positioned open although there is no real interior detail on it and four faint injector marks. The tools are nicely done with moulded on clamps that could use a little fine detailing in the way of latches but are otherwise good. The cables are moulded plastic with instructions to “carefully bend them” into position. Also included is a full sprue of individual track links, to be used as additional armour, togther with a slightly heavily moulded track hanger. These links are quite well made and included the proper hollow guide horns.
The engine deck includes one major oddity in the kit. The nicely detailed grilles and fan covers include no form of mesh which allows you to easily see through into the empty insides, as no interior is included. It is as if Tamiya intended their photo-etch mesh grille set, or perhaps the Eduard set, to be used here but then didn’t think to include it. These sets can be picked up quite cheaply but I do think the inclusion of at least a piece of vinyl mesh would have been in order.
Shurzen ( armoured side skirts ) are provided as an option though these are overscale in thickness, but as the real skirts were only 5mm thick meaning in 1/35 they would need to be 0.15mm roughly this is a common problem with injection plastic moulded skirts and really can only be addressed using PE or thin evergreen sheet plastic. The rails are also a little thick for true scale but that is easily addressed with a file or the edge of a sharp blade. The hangers aren’t really accurate to the real thing but again these would need to be incredibly thin to be accurate.
The turret is relatively basic with most of the exterior surfaces being covered with the zimmerit sheets. The rear hatch is a nicely made separate piece that can be made to open and close, though there is no interior detail other than a rudimentary gun breech and commander’s seat. The bolt and nut is used here in the gun breech to allow it move up and down. The gun barrel is moulded in two halves integrally with the muzzle brake which requires very careful assembly to make sure it is straight and clean once glued and tidied up. The cupola includes an internal periscope and a separate hatch though it doesn’t include internal detailing. There is also an MG34 on an anti-aircraft mounting included though it gets no ammo drum or bag. This is well made with nice delicate parts for the mount
The Eduard Zimmerit comes on a single large fret. The pieces are nice and light with very small contact points which results in easy removal and cleanup. The zimmerit effect is very good, doing well at looking hand applied and avoiding the look of being too straight and uniform. The parts are an accurate fit and look very good once applied. Areas are left blank for the fitting of mounted equipment once the zimmerit has been applied which is a feature I like a lot. Instructions are also supplied for touching up join areas with Tamiya putty
Decals and a painting guide are included for three vehicles – Tank No. 135, Pz.Rgt.12, Pz.Div.12, June 1944 Normandy : Tank No. 308, Pz.Rgt.12, Pz.Div.12, Summer 1944 Normandy : Tank No. 411, Pz.Rgt.35, Pz.Div.4, August 1944 Poland. As the decals will be getting applied over the zimmerit I would highly recommend using a good decal setting solution like microsol or similar to ensure that they settle properly into the finely ridged zimmerit surface texture..
Although the recently released Dragon Ealry Panther Ausf. G with Zimmerit is probably the best version around this is a still a very nice kit and the Eduard Zimmerit really makes it stand out. I do think it should have come with some form of grille mesh, and I do think that it deserves an aluminium gun barrel, PE tool clamps and individual link tracks, but that isn’t because the kit isn’t good enough on its own but rather that it IS good enough that it deserves to really get those few little bits that will really make it shine brighter than it already does. Build it as it is and you’ll be proud enough, take it that little bit extra with a little AM and this can be a deservedly winning kit.
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