Panther Project – Introduction and Competition!

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Hello everyone,

after quite some time, we’re going to have a competition. That’s right – and this time, I really have something cool for you, courtesy of the British guys from the Research Squad (Panther Project), specifically Mr.Brian Balkwill. Something about them first then.

You can find those guys on their website:

http://www.theresearchsquad.com/

As they describe themselves:

We are a group who share a common passion towards the preservation and restoration of historical items of interest. Our aim is to professionally document, research and publish studies on significant subjects in a variety of media, for the wider public to enjoy.
In addition to the books we publish, this site will contain large amounts of information in the way of galleries, drawings, diagrams and research projects for free use of wider communities.
To this end we are also currently working in close co-operation with The Wheatcroft Collection, a privately owned collection of some 200 plus major military and civilian items. Our intention is to publish a series of books on important items within the collection, whilst also working with the collection to raise its public profile via its website.

In short, they take things apart and document them and one of those “things” is the mighty Panther. You see, these guys made this wonderful thing:

PantherDVD_001

This is the Panther Project DVD, probably the largest single data resource ever compiled on all things Panther. You can see a preview of the material on their webpages. It contains really detailed drawings and beautiful photographs of the entire thing. For history enthusiasts, it’s something very, very valuable – unless you happen to be a tank restoration worker, you won’t see the Panther and what makes it “tick” this close anywhere else, not in color and HD anyway. To be quite honest, I was extremely impressed by this DVD. For me as a German tank fan (as you probably noticed), it’s something well worth the price they are asking (25 GBP) – do check their shop section too, they have other interesting stuff as well. Hell, this is my first time advertising some product, because this is probably the first time I ran into something worth advertising.

And guess what.

I happen to have 18 of these DVD’s in my possession, courtesy of the Research Squad. That’s right! It’s competition time. If you are interested in this awesome DVD, you can now win it for free. Here’s how you can do it.

Rules

It’s really simple. I will ask a few questions and in order to win, you simply write the answers to the special email:

competitionftr@centrum.cz

Out of all the people, who answered correctly, I will randomly pick 18 guys (using RNG) and will send them the DVD. The e-mail must (apart from the correct answers) contain the following:

- your ingame name and server (for example “Randomplayer, EU”)
- your country

Please note: if you win, I will need your name and real life shipping address – this is important. The DVD is a physical thing, it needs to be shipped by post. If you are uncomfortable with sharing your name and address with me, well, I respect that, but without it, I can’t send it to you, so there is no need to participate. Making an image of the DVD and sending it electronically is NOT an option obviously.

Questions

It’s not that hard.

1. At one point, German engineers proposed a close-support direct fire assault gun based on the Panther chassis. What was its name, what was it supposed to be armed with? (Hint: there was more than one, if you know the other one, I will be impressed)

2. The last variant that was actually built (if only partially) of the Panther was the Panther Ausf.F – what were the differences between the Ausf.F and earlier variants? (Hint: the entire variant, not only the hull) What was it armed with?

3. Which countries after the war used the Panther (any of its variants) or considered its use? (even “stored in reserve” counts) – name at least 4

The competition will end in two weeks (on 10.10.2014)

Good luck :)

39 thoughts on “Panther Project – Introduction and Competition!”

  2. Nice competition :) Though I’m still waiting for the best WG lightbulb changing jokes. I know there was some problem with prices distribution, but maybe you will just make some post with the jokes? :)

    • Tell me that’s a joke. Or you really don’t understand it? Its a documentary they sell to earn some little money which they use to maintain and restore the vehicles. If everybody downloads it for free, they would have nothing and those vehicles would fade away.

      They have a few copies they give away. And we can win them.

      • Yes reading is hard, it’s a Perk and I’m not at 100% yet I have to wait to Retrain into it ;)

    • Maybe because SS thinks that pirating a DVD of this nature is basically kicking the creators in the teeth?

      • Paying £55 for a copy of something they didn’t invent? For something they just copied from original materials and now they are trying to make a bussiness out of it? No fucking way.

        • Dude…. You try compiling a full and complete history. IT’S HARD. They deserve compensation for their hard work.

          And business? Dude. what did you think a historian was? They find and keep the history. but they also gotta eat. :/

  6. Omnomnom! Very much interested in that.
    Will probably pick up a copy if I don’t win one for free.

    Thanks SS, and to the guys in the Research Squad for the opportunity.

  8. Hi Guys

    Just wanted to correct something in case SS is away:

    The DVD (The Panther Project) is a very large data resource (1.5Gb) for everything Panther related. But the content covering the Panther restoration (colour images and diagrams ) is contained in the first BOOK in a series The Panther Project Vol 1: Drivetrain and Hull. Very confusing I know – we used similar titles

    SS is giving away copies of the DVD so if you want to see what each contains visit the links he post above.

    Regards
    Brian
    The Research Squad

  9. *sigh*

    “Me wants gift tank, not some documentary about facsist tracked box…”

    ugh, gotta refresh my knowledge about Panther….

  12. I want to pay them with my own money rather than win it off SS. It would make me feel better that they got some money.
    Also no point winning something I can buy easily when somebody out there probably can’t buy it even though they really want it.

  13. So, I read through one of your old Panther articles, and I saw that you said this.
    “One of my favorite quotes in Death Traps which shows Cooper’s ignorance is the following: “To make matters worse, the committee was apparently dominated by Yankees, who decided to name this tank(M3) the ‘Grant’ , after the Union general and later president. The Southerners were aggravated further by the later naming of the M4, known as the ‘Sherman’, after the Union general who burned a path through Georgia.” This tid-bit is disgustingly stupid and I can’t help feeling slightly angry at Cooper, by the way I am a Georgian. Also It was the British who named the M3 and M4, not “Yankees” for those who don’t know.”

    I don’t mean to be a douche, but you do realize that he was talking about the United States of America Georgia, right? I don’t know, but being from Georgia USA for some reason that really pissed me off…
    Sorry for the inconvenience, SilentStalker. I love your blog!

    • That really doesn’t even matter. What matters is Cooper’s stupidity to insinuate that “Northern” Yankees named the tank Sherman to piss of Southerners.

      The US didn’t even name the fucking tank Sherman. The British did.

      Americans named it 75mm Gun Tank M4…

      How many southerners do you think were pissed off by the designation 75mm Gun Tank M4?

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