Building a Rubicon Panzer III H (SdKfz 141)

I thought I would share a couple more notes about the troop of Rubicon Panzer IIIs that I am currently assembling for an early war armoured force to use in games of Iron Cross..

I assembled the command tank (Befehlswagen) using the Rubicon SdKfz 266 kit last week, based on the Ausf. H variant.  I've now put together a couple of the regular PIII kits (the SdKfz 141), following the Ausf H pattern. However, there are two variants of the H within the 141 kit, which caught me out! 

Variant #1 is the early H and variant #2 is the later version, which is the same version of the Ausf H as the Befehlswagen, so if you are creating a troop using both kits (SdKfz 141 and SdKfz 266), then use variant #2 from the SdKfz 141 kit so that it matches with the Befehlswagen kit.

As far as I call tell, there are only four differences (other than the obvious differences between the command tank and regular tank) between the two variants of the H:

1. the foremost track return roller is slightly further back on the early H;
2. the drive sprockets are different; and
3. the rear deck engine hatches are flatter on the early H;
4. the turret hatch on the later H has a small port, rather than a flat hatch.

The photo below illustrates the difference between the early and late H variants. The Befehlswagen (266) is on the left (late H) and the early H variant of the regular 141 is on the right.

When they are painted up and on the gaming table, it is not the sort of detail that I think that anyone would notice, but for the purists out there, there is a difference! I'm going to use the later H variant on the subsequent SdKfz 141s that I build and will paint the early H (above) with a bit more weathering and damage, so that I can flesh out its back story as having been the lone survivor from previous battles. ;-)

It's amazing what you can accomplish on a very wet weekend. I have also put together, and painted the undercoat and base coat onto, three Rubicon Opel Blitz trucks (SdKfz 305). After assembling the first panzer, I found that it was easier to not fully assemble the kit before painting, so I part assembled the trucks and then painted them in sections. Once I find my compressor, I'll start the next layer of paint, then stick the cab onto the chassis, then glue on the wheels just prior to applying the final weathering effects.