Grumman Panther

Another work in progress for which there is a lot of existing material. This one describes the differences between the -2 and -5 Panther, since there is a -2 in 1/72 (the Matchbox -5 is not so good) and -5s in 1/48.

There were three notable shape changes between the -2/3 and the -4/5: the fuselage was stretched by eight inches between the inlet fairing and the dive brakes; the vertical fin was revised; and the wing leading edge just outboard of the engine inlet was bulged forward with a small flow fence added (the fence was added after initial -5 production and retrofitted to -2/3s so it alone is not a distinguishing feature). The -5 also had a small suck-in door behind the bigger one that was on the -2.

You have to do some rivet counting to see where the stretch is but it's there. Note also that the fiberglass reinforcement on the aft part of the canopy is wider on the -5, but this appears to have been retrofitted to the -2, so its absence denotes a -2 but its presence does not necessarily denote a -5.

 

The tail change is a bit subtler than shown on the sketch (regrettably, the shape of the bottom of either fin isn't accurately depicted - see pictures):

In particular, the bottom of the -2 fin was differently shaped:

Other differences are the tail bumper and the presence of a small "reverse flap" on the wing flap of the -5 which probably wasn't retrofitted to the -2s.