Product Features and Details
Artitec 87.105 Highlights:
Model: Artitec's 87.105 1/87 scale Panzer IV F1 is a resin kit and unpainted.
Prototype: The Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz. 161) or Panzer IV was one of the most versatile tank designs of the Second World War and was the most-produced German tank of the war (8,553 – production began in 1937 and continued until the end of the war). The Panzer IV, designed by Krupp, was intended to serve alongside the Panzer III as a heavier infantry support tank. To this end is was originally armed with a short-barreled 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 gun for firing high-explosive shells at fixed targets. The initial Panzer IV models had light protection but this was upgraded to 50 mm of frontal, 30 mm of side, and 20 mm of rear armor beginning in 1940. Front and side armor would be further augmented as the war went on. Already during the Battle of France the Germans realized that the Panzer IV’s short-barreled 75 mm main gun was ineffective against the heavy armor of the French Char 2B and the British Matilda tanks and this became abundantly clear after encounters with Soviet T-34s and KV-1s following the start of Operation Barbarossa. Unlike the Panzer III however, the Panzer IV had a larger hull that could accommodate a heavier, more effective gun and beginning in late 1941 new Panzer IVs began to receive the high velocity 7.5 cm KwK 40 L/43 gun, the same antitank gun used by the StuG III assault guns. These and continued upgrades allowed the Panzer IV to remain competitive until the end of the war and it was easier to produce than the Panther and Tiger-series tanks. The hull of the Panzer IV went on to serve as a platform to the Hummel and Sturmpanzer IV self-propelled artillery vehicles, StuG IV assault gun, Nashorn and Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyers, and several antiaircraft tanks.
