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This is certainly not a new release or a new acquisition, but I thought some of you might be interested in the story.

Dragon called this model "The last Panther", and provided no unit identification, the box only stating "Berlin defense, April 1945". Well, I have no photograph of this vehicle, but found out where Dragon's inspiration came from - an excellent painting by David Pentland entitled "Panther at the Zoo". The painting depicts the remnants of Panzer Division Müncheberg - a division that fought bravely in the defence of Berlin - at the zoo on May 1st, 1945. The building behind the Panther is the zoo flak tower, one of three such buildings built for air defence, which had now become a shelter for thousands of Berlin civilians. This unit, together with the remnants of other units, including 9.Fallschirmjaeger Division and 18.Panzergrenadier Division, made their last stand in this spot against the invading Soviets, and had all their tanks disabled by the end of May 1st. With no vehicles left, and all their hopes lost, the remaining men made a desperate breakout attempt through occupied Berlin to escape to the West on May 2nd, their goal being to surrender to the Western allies. Only a handful of survivors made it to the Americans; most died in the streets of Berlin, or were captured by the Soviets and sent to concentration camps in Russia.

Thus, Dragon's "last Panther" is a vehicle of Panzer Division Müncheberg, and accurately represents a late production G model. Should it have zimmerit? Well..., NO. The modifications that make up a so-called "late" Panther G started in October 1944, and by that time zimmerit had already been discontinued. The only deviation from the painting is that the model has a machine gun at the commander's cupola, while the painting shows a nightfighting IR device. This is a very good model of a late G in 1/72 scale.

The model picture has been borrowed from the Alpimodel online shop website.