I was a tanker.
I am a model maker.
I read about the minutia of armored vehicles like jocks study baseball statistics.
I know about all of the numerous flaws in the Pzkw Panther.
The engine is underpowered.
The transmission is fragile and overloaded.
The interleavened roadwheels are a maintenance nightmare.
The gun is under balanced in traverse.
The sights are excellent, but have a teeny field of view.
Why do we love it?
The long ass 7.5cm KwK 42 is a GREAT tank gun. So good the French kept made a variation and used them into the 1980's.
It's honestly the first modern main battle tank by design. The first one to intentionally balance armor, armament and mobility.
It just wasn't very reliable. That's a double whammy of the mechanical parts being designed for a much lighter vehicle and outright sabotage by the slave-labor making them.
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Me too! I run into the issue though that in addition to guns, armor, airplanes, and ships, I'm also a die hard Braves fan. Which tends to lead me to forgetting things like Jackie's birthday and when the truck payment is due.
ReplyDeleteBut, dammit, re-engine it with some nice ami diesel engine, pop in an appropriate tranny, hang some decent applique armor off the sides, put in a wide-field site next to the targeting site, maybe a stabilization system like on the Sherman, and, yeah, sexxxxxxxy.
ReplyDeleteI don't know any of my childhood peeps that didn't secretly think the Panther or Tiger II weren't just dead sexy, for sexy values of tanks. Which would also explain the love of so many of my childhood peeps for "Squad Leader" by Avalon Hill.
Here is a way to spend many hours learning about tanks and stuff, but mostly tanks.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/user/TheChieftainWoT/videos