I have said it before and I will say it again. I am my own worst enemy! Since I was getting close to the painting stage I decided to some research on this particular Ausf. C. Yeah, yeah, most smart modelers do this first but I figured Tristar did their homework and I wouldn't have to worry about it. Nope, I was wrong again.
Come to find out that not that many of the Ausf. C's were fitted with the additional armor plates on the hull front. Truly, this was a very limited variant version. These versions were typically all late war and were retro-fitted with turret bins, a Notek lamp amongst other small details. In my research I could only find two pictures of this variant.
After much angst, I decided to go with the picture below. The only information I found out about this tank was "Panzer-Pioniere (armoured engineer unit) of the Großdeutschland division while training. The young soldiers had to endure being ran over by a tank (in this case a Panzer IV C) in their foxholes (note foxhole under the tank's right track). November 1943."
However, I am going to assume that this tank did see some action or why else go through with the retro-fits?
However, there is ONE big problem and a few minor issues. All of the road wheels that I completed are the wrong type. So, I decided to raid my Dragon Panzer IV Ausf. E for the missing parts - correct cap on road wheels, turret bin and Notek light. Hey, it will be less work on the PE fenders. That is a good thing, right?
I am keeping the 38cm tracks that I have already built as it looks in the picture the Germans left the original tracks with the smaller guide teeth on this tank. The track on the front hull looks to be the newer type. Not sure how I will address this issue yet.
Oh well, two steps forward, one step back.
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