Monthly Archives: January 2013

German Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. F (Dragon)

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This is the Dragon 6632 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. F’.

Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. F

History

Panzer III was the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III Sd Kfz. 141 (abbreviated PzKpfw III) translating as “armoured fighting vehicle”.

It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside the infantry-supporting Panzer IV. However, as the Germans faced the formidable T-34, stronger anti-tank guns were needed. Since the Panzer IV had a bigger turret ring, the role was reversed. The Panzer IV mounted the long barreled 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun and engaged in tank-to-tank battles.

The Panzer III became obsolete in this role and for most purposes was supplanted by the Panzer IV. From 1942, the last version of Panzer III mounted the 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24, better suited for infantry support. Production of the Panzer III ended in 1943. However, the Panzer III’s capable chassis provided hulls for the Sturmgeschütz III until the end of the war.

Source: Wikipedia

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German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. C (Dragon)

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This is the Dragon 6291 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. C’.

German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. C

History

The Panzerkampfwagen IV (Pz.Kpfw.IV), more commonly referred to as the Panzer IV, was a tank developed by Germany and used extensively in World War II. It was designed initially as an infantry-support medium tank, to work in conjunction with the anti-tank Pzkpfw III. Later in the war, it was up-gunned and up-armored, and took over the tank-fighting role.

The Panzer IV was the most common German tank of World War II, and was used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, such as tank destroyers and self-propelled antiaircraft gun.

The Panzer IV has the distinction of being the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout all of WWII, with over 9,000 produced since 1939. Only 138 “C” versions were made between 1938 and 1939.

Source: Dragon website

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Russian Heavy Tank, KV-2 model 1939, big turret (Trumpeter)

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This is the Trumpeter 00311 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘Russian Heavy Tank, KV-2 model 1939, big turret’.

Russian Heavy Tank, KV-2 model 1939, big turret

History

The KV heavy tank was designed and used as heavy break-through tank. To a tank of this task, the shortcomings of its L-11 main gun, which is not good at dealing with enemies’ bunkers and fortifications, could be fatal! So a heavy tank carrying a much bigger gun to better do the job was created along side the 76.2mm gun tanks.

The first of this type uses a new big high turret of 7 sides that mounting the 152mm M-10 howitzer. This version, which had many detail differences to the later standard type was usually dubbed KV ‘Big Turret’ or KV-2 Model 1939. As such a big turret on the usual KV hull proved to be very un-maneuverable it soon earned a funny nickname of “Mobile washroom”!

Source: Trumpeter website

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Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 Ehkranami (Trumpeter)

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This is the Trumpeter 00357 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 Ehkranami’.

Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 Ehkranami

History

To solve the problem of the fear of inadequacy of armor protection on the already heavily armored KV-1 Model 1941, It was decided to bring the armor protection of the turret up to a thickness to 75mm.

Since the capability of producing such a thick armor plate was lacking at the time, so an interim solution was to use bolt on armor, 25mm of thickness, bolt directly to the outside of the turret and some other parts of the hull. This type was usually referred to as KV-1s Ehkranami.

Source: Trumpeter website

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German Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. J (Initial production) (Dragon)

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This is the Dragon 6463 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘German Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. J – Initial production’.

German Panzerkampfwagen III, Ausf. J - Initial production

History

The Panzer III was Germany’s main battle tank for the first couple of years of WWII, with earlier Panzer IV variants serving primarily as close-support weapons. However, after Pz.Kpfw.III tanks began encountering more heavily armored T-34 and KV-1 tanks during the invasion of Russia, existing Panzer III models were found to be inadequate for the task.

One solution was to up-gun the tank with a longer and more powerful 5cm KwK 38 L/42 cannon, and to add more armor to the vehicle. Thus the Panzer III Ausf. J was born. It featured 50mm-thick solid armor plates on the front and rear of the hull, an increase from the previous 30mm-thick armor plates.

Among other modifications, the new armor resulted in a ball-mount MG being fitted on the front superstructure and a redesigned driver’s visor.

Source: Dragon website

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Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 model 1942, simplified turret (Trumpeter)

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This is the Trumpeter 00358 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 model 1942 simplified turret’.

Russian Heavy Tank, KV-1 model 1942 simplified turret

History

Because the additional armor in KV-1 type manufacturing craft is trivial and produce the efficiency lowly, therefore a kind of new KV-1 appeared again, this kind of is called M KV-1 1942 the characteristics of types consist in the armor that enhance completely with then increase production efficiency for the simplification of the purpose designs.

The bodywork armor was again 75 millimeters of to increase 90 millimeters of, dry by heat the most thick place in armor of the tower attains 120 millimeters.

Source: Trumpeter website

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German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. F1/F2 (Italeri)

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This is the Italeri 6217 kit in 1/35 scale, of the ‘German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. F1/F2’.

German Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. F1/F2

History

The Panzer IV was developed during the opening months of World War Two to equip German armoured divisions with a tank having a 7.5 cm cannon.

Given the shortcomings of the previous Panzer III, equipped with a 5 cm gun (often in difficulty against the Soviet T34 with its 5 cm gun and highly effective armour), it also featured enhanced protection.

The Mark IV was used extensively by the German Army on all fronts during the Second World War: numerous variants were produced to counter the constant improvements made to enemy tanks.

Source: Italeri website

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