BergePanther

In WWII the Germans fielded some very heavy tanks and assault guns. Many of them were as much as twice as heavy as American Sherman tanks.

The massive thick armor put great strain on suspensions, transmissions, and engines. Vehicles sometimes broke down due to low quality parts, or metal, the strain of road marches that were too long or just a lack of maintenance. Towing one tank with another was officially forbidden because it often caused the towing tank to die a premature death too.

At first halfracks were used as recovery vehicles but eventually they developed the BergePanther. It was a Panther tank, without a turret, but with huge winches installed in the hull. This, with the large spade in the back allow them to dig in and winch out Panthers and Tigers that were stuck in the mud, fallen in a ditch or otherwise in need of recovery. They could then tow the vehicle to a point where repairs or salvage could be made.

These three Paul Heiser resin models are quick, simple easy to build models. Trim the mild flash and then slap each track/ suspension unit on each side and you are essentially done.

All the little parts are optional. I choose to add the crane in the erected position on one of them. I added several extra track links, spare gas cans, tools, and even road wheels. Trimming the flash off the parts took a while, only because there were so many. I got these from Fidelis Models. Resin kits can be painted with any standard hobby paint used for styrene models.