Imagine a world where the Allies didn't win the war, nor did the Axis. Instead, the war just continued on and on in an unsteady stalemate. Welcome, to the world of 1949. In this world Germany decided not to bomb London, but instead continued its attacks on Britain's airfields. Then, the Russians lost at Kursk. Finally, D-Day fails. With these victories, Germany has managed to halt the Allie's progress. In the Western Theatre, the Allies and the Axis each plan the invasion of the other's vital territories. In the Pacific, Japan and the United States are dueling over tiny islands with giant fleets and atomic weapons. Now, the stalemate is about to be broken. Germany is preparing an all out invasion of Britain. As tough and valiant as the Allied troops defending the Sceptered Isle are, some of their leaders are beginning to that they will be unable to hold against the Wehrmacht.
To prove that I'm still alive, and am currently working on new models, here is the Wehrmacht's Panther. While these are no longer being manufactured in bulk thanks to the advent of the E-series, these are the interim models that were built/retrofitted until the E-50 was made ready for production in 1948. As such, this model of tank is what most average Wehrmacht armored units possess.
This is hardly the most advanced vehicle currently in the works. I also have several small arms that I'm working on right now. Since I'm working full time to pay for college, it should come as no surprise that I am still hard pressed for time, though I can manage to get work done on the mod. Most importantly, I'm still learning how to use all the mod/modeling tools, and once I've become acquainted with them, work should progress much more quickly. Remember, I am basically learning every skill I'll need right now, so the going may be a bit slow at first, as it has been recently.
Anyway, I made this by combining Relic's Panther and Panzer IV models, with a little bit of my own elbow grease included. this is not the final product, which will probably look at least a little different. Now then, it is 4am on Christmas Eve/morning, I think I will take a short break from working now. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night's sleep.
Panther with skirts? I like!
omg i loved the skirted panzer iv look a skirted panther is even better all it need now is the right camo paint job
HE still lives, yay :D
Heh, looked like a Pz.IV at first. Nice.
I might have gone with the Panther II/Panther Ausf. F project for the interim medium but I'll keep watching this, hard to make my mind up from an early preview.
Well the thing is the Panther II was in this reality never even a weapon destined for the battlefield. Since the Germans had a lull in the war between 1944-49 they have had plenty of time to perfect and release the new E-Series Vehicles/Tanks. The Panther II of this reality is nothing more than a technology demonstrator for the German military to showcase new features that may go into future tanks, namely the E-50 and possibly even the E-75. As a bit of a spoiler the E-50 will more than likely (I'm about 95% sure on this) have a Schmalturm so you will see something similar to the Panther II on the battlefield anyway.
Damn Lord Wiffleby beat me to it
The Panther II looks quite a bit like the the E-50, if I'm remembering right. The E-50 will appear soon, since the model is already done, only the texture and animations need to be finished.
As for this Panther, I wanted something visually distinctive from what anyone else would have.
You may do whatever you want but theres more to the E-50 than a sloped turret, E-50 was much much larger so i doubt just cuz the panther would have schmalturum that it would make the E-50 less visually distinctive
i wounder if you guys can make a TIGER3 out of something as the tiger was an iconic tank for power and probably the most feared tank in ww2 and the tiger 2 was probably the most powerfull one of ww2 along side the IS2 and since hitler picked his tanks names to make them sound strong it makes sense if they made a tiger3
Well the E-75 is pretty much a Tiger III in a sense that it is the evolution of the KT.
There were two possible models that I'm aware of that were being designed for the E-75 (on paper at least). Some say that the E-75 would be an upscaled E-50 (so just a really big E-50, more armor, same engine, slightly longer gun in the same caliber)
The other source states that the E-75 would be armed with a modernized (for the time of course) KT turret with a larger caliber gun (more than likely either a 105mm gun or a 128mm gun like the one found in the Jagdtiger), but otherwise like the first version, an upscaled E-50 using the same engine and suspension but having more armor and being larger overall.
The name E-75 does sound a tad boring though. Maybe once in production they would be given nicknames, perhaps for the E-75 something like the Imperial Tiger (to succeed the King Tiger)and Tiger III as a basic moniker.
e75 should be a betetr KT not a bigger e50
Well that's not really up to me to decide, but I do agree with your opinion, sir.
I'm pretty sure the E-75 that will find its way into this mod will be the second variant I described. It will have a KT-esque turret, either a 105mm or 128mm gun (more than likely the larger gun), more armor than the E-50, be larger overall than the E-50, run on a similar engine (if not the same) and have a similar transmission. The external difference between the E-50 and E-75 are gun caliber, overall size, turret shape,and the E-75 had 8 bogeys while the E-50 had 6 bogeys on each side. Otherwise they are quite similar (especially in internal layout for components), remember it is supposed to be a standardized system so many things are bound to be similar.
Shouldn't the Panther not have the driver's view port on the front? Later Panther models (ausf. G) and King Tigers only had the scope, I think.
Truthfully I'm not sure which is more comfortable to use, a vision slit or periscope. Thus, I don't really know what to tell you, but I would imagine that vision slits are a tad more comfortable especially when you don't need to see too far out, only to make sure that your tank isn't about to drive over a mine.
Since this periods Germany isn't on a defensive path, in fact (Lord Wiffleby might have to correct me here)they are preparing a new Operation Sealion for the total annihilation of the Sceptered Isles,
the German factories can afford to make an extra cut into the Panthers hull if it allows the tank a marginally higher chance of survivability (or at least to avoid mines XD) and better overall visibility.
Basically what I'm saying is, they wouldn't need to cut the vision slit out of the Panthers hull because in this reality there is no need to do that, they aren't cutting costs to the same level, nor are they stuck between a rock and a hard place.
E-90 has 128 mm plus more armor standard e-75 has 105
Hmm, I hadn't thought of the removal of the vision slit in terms of price reduction, but as a way of doing away with a weak point in the glacis plate. Gs(correct me if I'm wrong) had the most advanced equipment, like night vision, although because of the deteriorating condition of the German war industry, later models had really low quality armor. So maybe the new model could be overequipted with night vision and S-mines, smoke dispensers, etc.
Hmm, I hadn't thought of the removal of the vision slit in terms of price reduction, but as a way of doing away with a weak point in the glacis plate. Gs(correct me if I'm wrong) had the most advanced equipment, like night vision, although because of the deteriorating condition of the German war industry, later models had really low quality armor. So maybe the new model could be overequipted with night vision and S-mines, smoke dispensers, etc.
Damn you tablet for double posting!
P.S. - Also maybe the schmalturm?
Well I discussed the Schmalturm with Lord Wiffleby. He decided to include the Schmalturm only for the E-50 because he wanted the visual difference between the Panther and the E-50 to be a bit more clear. That's why the Panther has this lovely set of skirts now.
Now as for the G-model, yes they did indeed possess the best technology, but this Panther is representative of a common German unit, not a Volksgrenadier Division nor some Elite group like Großdeutschland, but something right in between the two, a simple, numbered division. It is armed with technology from before the lull of 1944-49, and is only now starting to receive new, more updated technology such as; newer Panther models, Tiger IIs, etc. They have had to make do with older Panthers and older weapons entirely. To this point they did custom modifications and mounted old Panzer IV skirts onto their Panthers for slightly better protection. In a sense, I think this division that is being represented is kind of similar to the vCoH Panzer Elite, armed initially with slightly outdated equipment but steadily receiving new and better equipment.
As for whether it was for price reduction or to do away with an armor problem, from my point of view, it was the former. But that's just my opinion
Very cool
But, the Panther had skirts. Small but they were there. HOW WILL YOU FIX THE DRIVE WHEELS NOW!?
the textures a tad, messed or is it just me?