NO RESERVE. 1/72 WWII Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther, Early Production, s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 559, Unit #01, Autumn, 1944   - with a base of gray paving stones.

One of a series of 1/144 Scale military vehicles and aircraft sold by Dragon Models Ltd. as their Can.Do brand in the early 2000s. With the exception of two different German railway guns which were sold as separate boxed-pieces, the armored vehicles and aircraft were sold on point-of-sale cards - as shown for this model in our second and third pictures.

For military vehicles, six different models of a given type of tank or self-propelled gun / tank destroyer were covered by single part number - with a special model of a related vehicle being included as a seventh offering. The six basic models were given the suffixes of A through F, while the special model was assigned an X as it suffix. There were not equal quantities of models produced bearing the different suffixes under each part number so that some pieces turned out to be rarer than others - and the X models are the rarest of all.

We've sold many of the various Can.Do military vehicles models when they came out but never any of the brands aircraft models. However, its our recollection that there were three different versions per part number but we don not know if there were also special version of the aircraft models.

The military models were sold to retailers in cartons of 12 pieces. Although they have been out of circulation for some time, one of our suppliers recently obtained supplies of two different types - these Jadgpanther models numbered 20019 and some King Tiger models numbered 20020. With regard to the Jadgpanther models, we ended up buying 3 cartons - for a total of 36 models. These consisted of 34 models of 20019-A through 2019-F in varied quantities and 2 of the Special Model 20019-X.

The Special Model 20019-X is of a Pz. Beob. Wg. V Ausf. G (Panzerbeobachtungswagen V) artillery observation vehicle built on the Panzer V (Panther) chassis. These mounted a smaller Panzer IV turret in place of the larger-gunned Panther turret, freeing up space in the fighting compartment for additional new radio equipment and an electrical generator, and usually worked in cooperation with Wespe and Hummel self-propelled artillery batteries.

Note that the models we obtained had apparently been stored in a damp area and although the models, their bases and their clear acrylic cases are mint, the cartons they came in were somewhat mildewed and smelled musty. Some mildew also affected the models' point of sale cards. This was primarily on their back sides but also slightly on their front sides. We believe any current domestic seller of these Jadgpanther models obtained them from the same supplier as we did and as a result feel their models were affected by the mildew even if they do not point this out in their listings.

Although we have wiped the models' cards to remove the mildew, some small spots might appear under parts of their clear flexible plastic lids where there are glued to the point-of-sale cards and the cards might retain a slight musty odor.

The seven models of the Jadgpanther series and the quantities of each which we were able to obtain are as follows. Note that the percentage that each type represents of the total is indicated after the quantity.

20019-A - Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther, Early Production with Schurzen added side armor, Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade, Panzer Grenadier Division Großdeutschland, East Prussia, December 1944 - with a base textured as snow crossed by a pair of tank track ruts.     3 of 36 (8.3%)

20019-B (This Model) - Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther, Early Production, s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 559, Unit #01, Autumn, 1944 - with a base of grey paving stones.     9 of 36 (25.0%)

20019-C - Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther, Late Production with Schurzen added side armor. Panzer-Lehr-Division, Unit #320, Hungary Spring, 1945 - with a base of textured as "muddy" ground crossed by a pair of tank track ruts.     9 of 36 (25.0%)

20019-D - Sd.Kfz. 173 Jagdpanther, Late Production, s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 560, Unit #102, Ardennes, 1944 - with a base of bright green "vegetation" crossed by two pairs of tank track ruts.     3 of 36 (8.3%)

20019-E - Sd.kfz. 173 Jagdpanther, Final Production with Schurzen added side armor, s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 654, Alsace, November, 1944 - with base of brown paving stones.     6 of 36 (16.7%)

20019-F - Sd.Kfz. 173 Jagdpanther, Final Production, Late-war camouflage scheme, Unidentified Unit and Location, Spring, 1945 - with base of light green "vegetation" crossed by two pairs of tank track ruts.     4 of 36 (11.1%)

20019-X - "Special Model" - Pz. Beob. Wg. V Ausf. G (Panzerbeobachtungswagen V) with a fully-painted 1/2 inch high figure of a German soldier - with a base of light green "vegetation" crossed by two pairs of tank ruts.     2 of 36 (5.6%)

Resin model. Dragon Armor - Can.Do Pocket Army #20019-B.

MIB.

FOR ANYONE NOT FAMILIAR WITH HOW TO INTERPRET A MODEL'S SCALE, THE MODEL IS 1 7/8 INCHES LONG. THIS IS EQUIVALENT TO DIVIDING THE LENGTH OF THE REAL TANK DESTROYER IN INCHES BY 144 (BUT IGNORING ANY LENGTH OF THE GUN BARREL THAT EXTENDS BEYOND THE FRONT OF THE HULL).