Zugführerwagen 40 Z.W. 40

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In August of 1940 FAMO received an order to produce a new tank suspension with interleaved roadwheeles for the Pz III, to improve its capabilitys and fix some flaws such as shedding of the rubber rims at high speed, by using far bigger roadwheels. Famo recived 21 Pz III to aid in developent.
1 beeing an Ausf. G and the rest Pz III Ausf. G hulls with Ausf. H turrets.
The returnrollers were removed and they recived 850mm roadwheels, as well as some got new escape hatches, as they where now behind the wheels.
While it was successfull in increasing the ground clearance and by that off road traverse, it didnt increase the weight reserves, so it wasnt possible to increase armor nor armarment and cince it was rather late, it was discontinued in favor of keeping the standart production up.

It would find its place at the lower rank with very similar capabilitys to the Pz III Ausf. F, while having a different running gear offering a bit more protection.

Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 30 mm (11°) Front plate
25 mm (85°), 30 mm (53°) Front glacis
30 mm (22-72°) Lower glacis 30 mm 10 mm (74°), 20 mm (33-70°) Top
20 mm (11-66°) Bottom 10 mm
Turret 30 mm (14-30°) Turret front
37 + 37 mm (5-52°)Gun mantlet 30 mm (17-26°) 30 mm (0-23°) 10 mm
Armour Sides Roof
Cupola 30 mm 10 mm

Crew: 5
Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 79 14 19.8 465 572 23.48 28.89
Realistic 71 12 265 300 13.38 15.15

Armarment: 5 cm KwK 38 L/42 with 99 rounds of Pzgr. 39, Pzgr. 40 and Sprgr. 38 (Which can be found allready in game) and an Mg 34
360° Traverse at 14°/sec with -10° to +20° elevation.
Pictures:

Spoiler


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Source:
Panzer Tracts 3-2 by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary Louis Doyle
Panzer III Thomas Anderson
Panzer III & Its Variants Walter J. Spielberger

It looks less stable than the normal panzer 3 chassis, so it may bob up and down more when breaking. But 71kmh, that is a fast panzer. +1 for unique variant

There is no instability recorded. Overall its pretty much the forrunner to the Panther suspention, as well as unlike similar russian torsionbar suspentions, it retained the shockabsorber at the front and back and has bump stops at every arm. It should be just as smooth as the Panther.

Yes, as I said bobbing up and down when breaking. The bobbing is more prominant on the panther than the pz series. But it will also be a smoother ride.

My bad, i dont remember such and last time playing Panther is a bit longer ago.

No worries. Go play the panthers they are much more fun than top tier stuff, they are borderline OP for their br.