Training a cat to attack it's owner

Part 1 - Picture Research

If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." Mark Twain

I’m going to paint up a decoy tank company. And it’s going to have a Panther.

I like Panthers. Always have done ever since I was a child. And it pains me that I always see them on the other side of the table. Threatening me and my precious IS-2s. So it’s time to take the Power back from Chris and have 1 of my own:

   I’m not going to go into all the well-rehearsed technical details about the debut of the Panther and its performance throughout the War. I’m only going to look at eligible paint schemes that I’ve been able to find after a fairly diligent trawl of the Web.

Whilst conceding that some historical photographs exist to guide you, Battlefront state that captured vehicles provide an opportubnity to ‘let your imagination run wild’. I’m not altogether comfortable with this, preferring instead to root my painting in something vaguely historical. My search has turned up 5 variants of repainted Panther from 3 separate units that can all be conveniently located here:

• A Pzkpfw V Ausf G of the 366th Guards Heavy SP Gun Regiment. The 3rd Ukrainian Front, 47th Army, vic. Lake Balaton, March 1945

• Another Pzkpfw V Ausf G of the 366th Guards Heavy SP Gun Regiment. The 3rd Ukrainian Front, 47th Army, vic. Lake Balaton, March 1945.

• A Pzkpfw V Ausf A of the tank company under command of Gds. Lt. Sotnikov. The 8th Guard Tank Corps, vic. Praga (Warsaw’s suburb), August 1944.

• Another Pzkpfw V Ausf A of the tank company under command of Gds. Lt. Sotnikov. The 8th Guard Tank Corps, vic. Praga (Warsaw’s suburb), August 1944.

• Pzkpfw V of the 1st Bulgarian Armored Brigade, Sofia, summer 1945.

Relative to the T34s currently being painted and my time / ability as a painter, I’ve opted to have a crack at the Panther Ausf A under the command of Gds. Lt. Sotnikov, 8th Guard Tank Corps: