What about Orktober? What’s that………………….I just needed a break from green for no other reason than coz! Anyway this has some green in it.

By 1943 German tank production was not keeping up with losses. It was realised that only by concentrating on the Panzer IV and those based on its chassis was production likely to improve. The new Panther and Tiger tanks were more costly and took longer to make.

Until the beginning of 1943, the Panzer IV production was rather low. The Ausf.H reached a monthly production of almost 300, with a maximum of 354 tanks built in December 1943. In comparison, some early Panzer IV versions needed over a year to produce such quantities. For example, during 1941, on average, the monthly Panzer IV production was around 40 tanks.

The armour protection was similar to the previous Ausf.G version. The exceptions included additional front and top armour. The previous 50mm armour was deemed insufficient, and additional 30 mm plates were either welded or bolted to the frontal hull and superstructure. This would stand up to the T34 76mm and the Sherman 75mm gun s, however the side armour was still relatively week only requiring a 20mm gun for penetration.

“The Panzer IV Ausf.H was equipped with the 7.5 cm Kw.K. L/48 long gun. The longer barrel, compared to the L/43 used on early Ausf.Gs, offered slightly improved anti-tank capabilities. At a 1 km range, the 7.5 cm Kw.K. L/48 gun could penetrate around 85 mm of armor angled at 30° using standard armor-piercing rounds. The rare tungsten round increased the penetration at the same distance and angle up to 97 mm. A third option consisted of a hollow charge round that could penetrate 100 mm of armor regardless of the range but had a slow velocity of only 450 m/s compared to 750 m/s of the standard anti-tank round. The usual ammunition load consisted of 87 rounds, usually almost equal numbers of AP and HE rounds. When available, tungsten AP rounds would also be stored in limited numbers and used against the best-armored targets. The hollow charge rounds were sometimes used instead of the HE rounds.

The secondary armament was unchanged and consisted of two 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns. The ammunition load for these two machine guns was stored in 21 belt sacks, each with 150 rounds ( 3,150 rounds in total). A third machine gun could be placed on a Fligerbeschussgerat 43 type anti-aircraft mount located on top of the command cupola.“

Tank Encyclopaedia

Schurzen spaced armour was often used on the Panzerkamphwagen IV and the Panzerkamphwagen III, but this was by no means universal.

I have chosen not to model this as it makes for a more flimsy tabletop model and hides most of the tanks detail.

Well, this was a nice little diversion from Orktober. I still have a large amount to complete, but keep getting distracted, and including other models, or doing something completely different like this post!

Plans gone awry!

Another distraction on the work bench.

More frogs!

Spiders to finish off.

An Orc mountain giant and a marsh troll added and part painted! There have still been lots of benefits for participating in Orktober. Firstly already lots of “green thingies” have been completed, and secondly I have improved in my painting of green skins. Both of these have made it worth the effort, Anyway must sprint to the finish!

I do have a Pz III, a Panther, a Tiger 1, and some other vehicles to finish off………………….I wonder?