One of the joys of these 1:48 scale Tamiya kits is being able to build them in separate sub-assemblies, making painting much easier.
In the early years of the Second World War, it became clear to German forces that the punch their armour was delivering fell short with some of the new types of armoured vehicles they were encountering. In France, the B1 bis and the British Matilda presented quite an unpleasant shock to the German tankers. That’s not to mention the surprise they got when they first started encountering the Russian T-34 and KV series of tanks. Whilst not immune to the Germans’ firepower of the day, it became clear that a more powerful gun would be required to be effective in combat when faced by this new wave of tanks.