OzMods Scale Models

1/144 Grumman Panther model kit

Product # OM14407

Product Article by Steve Bamford

 

 

 

OzMods Scale Models is an Australian company that produces kits and conversion sets.  This latest offering is their little 1/144 Grumman Panther model kit.  It is a injection molded styrene kit consisting of styrene parts with 2 vacuformed canopies and a sheet of decals for 2 different Panthers.

There are a variety of 1/144 kits on the market and surprisingly enough they have very good detail....recessed panel lines and such.  As far as I know...this is a sweet little 1/144 Panther.  1/144 kits usually lack cockpit detail and also have very thick canopies for their tiny scale.  This kit does very well in these 2 areas and all other areas for that matter.  The cockpit on this kit has very good detail considering it is 1/144 scale.  Now....this isn't the sort of detail you'd expect to see in a 1/48 scale kit, but for 1/144 scale...the detail here is better than you'd find on any massed produced kit.  On main stream kits, the cockpit is nothing more that blobs of plastic....but on this kit you have a separate seat with molded in seatbelts and impressively done headrest and seat detail.  This seat would be very good detail for a 1/72 kit, but in 1/144 it is quite good.  My guess is you would paint the cockpit and follow that with a wash and drybrushing  to bring out all the recessed and raised detail....switches etc.  I could fit 3 of these cockpit tubs on my thumbnail......very small indeed.

Click on images below to see larger images

cockpit tub

ejection seat 

tail wing

The instrument panel is quite well done, considering you can get 10 of these on my thumbnail.....it is quite impressive.  The detail is recessed, so the plan here would be to paint the instrument panel in the proper shade of grey(?) and add black to the recessed instruments by doing a wash and maybe follow that up with some tiny amounts of Future if you have the skill for that.   Detail on the wheels is quite well done and they even added hydraulic line detail to the main landing gear bays.

instrument panel  main landing gear bay

The panel lines on the wings and fuselage etc are all recessed and very fine....these should take a wash with great ease.  The kit comes with 2 vacuformed canopies, which is good for those of you keen on opening up the canopy to expose the stellar cockpit detail.  The canopy frames are raised.

Click on images below to see larger images

fuselage showing recessed panel lines   vacuformed canopies

 

There are 2 decal options.....both for the US Navy.  One is a Grumman F9F-2 Panther, 123494/115/C on board the USS Midway in 1951.  The second aircraft is a  Grumman F9F-5 Panther, 125584/201/B on board the USS Oriskany in 1954.  For more details about the 2 different paint schemes.....see the instruction sheets below to the right.  

The decals are printed on a clear carrier film, so you'll have to cut each decal from the carrier film separately, but this isn't a big deal.....go slow, don't scratch the decals and you'll do just fine.  

The kit plastic is a hard styrene....neither good or bad....just letting you know.  I test fit some major parts and they seemed to fit well with panel lines lining up etc.

There are 2 pages of B&W instructions.  Pretty straight forward stuff.

Click on images below to see larger images

You can order this kit 

  • or write them directly at:
    OzMod Scale Models
    PO Box 700, 
    Booval, QLD 4304, 
    Australia
  • Telephone: (07) 3282 7000

Drop by their website for full details on ordering and prices.

I highly recommend this kit for anyone wanting to add a 1/144 USN Panther to their display case or any 1/144 builders.  If you've never built 1/144....then give them a try....they are a great scale to build for a variety of reasons.

Special thanks to OzMods Scale Models for the review sample.

Steve 

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford