OOC's new castings for 2007 were all based on modern single deck coaches, the first of the three new castings to be released was the Plaxton Paragon coach and this has now been joined by the Plaxton Panther version the first issue of which forms part of the Plaxton Centenary set OM49901.

The Paragon Review already covers the new coach casting in depth and the Panther models construction and finish is very close to that of the Paragon but some of the main differences that exist are noted below.

        The first release of the Panther Coach comes in WA Shearings Grand Tourer gold and brown livery. The model depicts the operators Volvo coach MX06AMO, fleet number 811 and complements the Van Hool T9 model OM45909 released in an almost identical livery last year.

The model employs the same basic construction as the Paragon with the baseplate, lower body panels and roof all being die-cast while the side glazing is a single plastic component that has the window glazing bars printed on to it.

The main differences compared with the Paragon version are the more raked front windscreen design and an alternative baseplate depicting the mid engine position found on the Volvo chassis. A smaller more compact air conditioning unit is fitted to the roof while the rear of the model lacks a window.
The rear most off-side window has been partly obscured to represent the on-board toilet but sadly the compartment itself is not represented on the interior seat moulding.
The Panther model has a different under floor locker and off-side emergency exit arrangement. The wheelbase however remains the same as that on the Paragon version at around 80mm.

The interior of the coach is once again a single plastic component in this case light grey with the dash board picked out in a slightly darker grey. On this issue all the seats have had a white stripe applied to their centres to represent the cushion motif design.

This particular version lacks the smart wheel trims found on the Felix model and instead has standard hubs which appear to replicate the real things fairly well.
Phillip who I must thank for supplying all the photographs for this review has also pointed out that the central rear panel on both versions of the coach are actually sperate plastic inserts

        Overall I'd say this model is well up to the standards already seen on the Paragon version and it appears Corgi have designed the models in such away as to allow for plenty of variations.