Although infrared night vision technology was developed as early as 1934, it wasn’t until late World War II that the Germans found a decisive need for the use of infra red (IR) sighting devices .Only a few Panther platoons had teams of vehicles equipped with this IR technology, but I felt an IR-equipped Panther would make an eye-catching detail project in 1/35 scale. Older production Panthers were chosen for the upgrade, since they were in and out of the factories for upgrades anyway; also, the D had a moveable driver flap perfect for the IR mounts. I started with Italeri’s Panther Ausf. A (kit No. 270), since it’s a good-quality kit that needed only a few modifications to back-date it to an Ausf. D (an early D is also available from Italeri, kit No. 290). For the IR equipment I used the parts from Tamiya’s steel-wheeled Panther G with IR (kit No. 35174).
If you would like to read more of this article, please click on the icon below to download the PDF.