For Operation Greif, the Germans' effort to infiltrate Allied lines during the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge), the Germans modified several Panther tanks with welded-on armor plate to simulate the American M10 tank destroyer. This is the subject of Dragon's 1/35 scale "Ersatz M10."
Based on its popular Panther kits, the Ersatz M10 features new sprues with the add-on M10 parts. Also, Dragon molded a new hull and turret to reflect the changes made to the real vehicles. Released in Dragon's "Smart Kit" line, the box includes Panther individual-link "magic" tracks as well as a small fret of photoetched-metal parts. Decals are provided for two vehicles. Interestingly, the turret armor is molded in one piece and nestled in its own molded-plastic tray for protection. My piece had a minor warp in one side.
Assembly starts with the lower hull and torsion bars. I temporarily installed the wheels to build the tracks. I assembled the tracks in four sections for each side: top and bottom runs, and runs formed around the drive sprocket and idler wheel. I allowed the tracks to dry hard, then removed them for painting and later reinstallation.
Take care in positioning the cooling-fan assemblies (Subassembly A in Step One); they are handed. Like most Dragon kits, there are several options requiring different parts but no explanations of the choices.
There are a few minor differences in the front armor between the two decal options; the instructions note this in Step 10. Since I glued the front cover for the hull machine gun (F16) closed, I did not bother to install the gun. The rear armor extension (F9) did not fit very well. Were I to build this kit again, I think I would leave off the fenders until this rear piece was in place. The only tricky part in assembling the turret is adding the false armor shell; I installed it after painting was complete. I clamped the rear supports with small alligator clips, allowing me to adjust their positions slightly to make sure the piece was square and level. I'm not sure if installing the false armor shell took out the slight warp, but it is not noticeable on the finished model.
It just seemed wrong to paint a Panther tank olive drab, but I did so using Tamiya acrylics. The decals went down smoothly with just a single application of Micro Sol. These vehicles had seen little use since their conversion, so I went for a fairly fresh look to the paint job, applying only a little road grime to the lower parts of the vehicle. Then I installed the painted tracks as well as the photoetched-metal step on the front plate and spare track hangers on the sides. I found several photos of these vehicles on the Internet, but none showed the headlight cutout as depicted in the kit (simply stuck on the front plate).
Still, the finished model really looks great. I could not find any published dimensions for the modified Panther, but the Panther part of Dragon's kit certainly matches the real thing. The 20-hour build was sped along by the one-color scheme and lack of pioneer equipment or stowage. Any modeler with a bit of experience should be able to add this interesting vehicle to his or her collection.
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