Sd.Kfz. 173 Jagdpanther

Italeri 1/72 Scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Summary

A Brief History

The Sd. Kfz 173 Jagdpanther was a tank killer based on the Panther tank. With thick sloping armour, the powerful 88mm anti-tank gun and the Panther lower hull and running gear, it had an almost perfect combination of fire-power, protection and mobility making it the best Anti-Tank Weapon to come out of the Second World War. As with many German innovations, there just weren't enough of them to make a difference.

FirstLook

This is another of the ex-Esci kits that Italeri have been reproducing of late. Generally, I welcome these old Esci kits because in their day they were the best on the market and many of them, even today, have not been bettered. However, with at least three superior small scale Jagdpanthers on the shelves now, I just can't recommend this kit in comparison to them. It has too many errors but all is not lost. It is the only kit on the market with the early engine deck and considering that almost all vehicles had this deck it makes you wonder what Dragon, Revell and Trumpeter were thinking when they designed theirs. Dragon even made the deck in their kit separate so an early one could be substituted and then apparently forgot to include the part.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Okay, that’s the good bits, so what's wrong with the rest of it?

Well, I'll start with the spare track links. Esci have moulded two six-link sections of track on the one of the tan sprues which are almost but not quite identical to those on the track sprue. Nice tread pattern detail on the out side but nothing on the other side, not even guide teeth. This is not so bad for the tracks where because of an abundance of road wheels you can't see much of the inside anyway but because of the guide teeth, the spare tracks are mounted with the guide teeth side out and there's no detail at all. As if this wasn't bad enough, they then tell you to mount them vertically instead of horizontally as they should be.

Then there's the tow cables. There should be two but they've only supplied one. It looks about the right length but again they tell you to mount it under the pioneer tools on the left hand side instead of above.

Talking of pioneer tools, I think they have supplied the right amount but then they will have you mounting them in all sorts of odd places. Sure, later on they were mounted as indicated but they don't give you the opportunity to mount them as standard. On the right hand side, there is nothing between the front tool mount and the spare tracks at the rear. No wooden block for the jack, no mount for a coil of wire and no rear tool mount. There are four holes moulded into the side for the tool mount but no mount, block or coil holder.

Conclusion

I know that this is an old kit and Italeri are just giving us what Esci have given them, but this is just not good enough compared to the other Jagdpanther kits on the market from Revell, Dragon and Trumpeter.

If it wasn't for that engine deck I would not recommend it at all.

Recommended for spare parts only.

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample.