The Wehrmacht was skilled at using whatever parts and pieces were at hand, and this looks like another attempt to get artillery on a more mobile basis. Clearly as the Eastern Front became a huge sinkhole for men and materiel, small tanks like the 38(t) were of less and less use as AFVs and more suitable as gun platforms.

I would love to know if there's a site or book that breaks down all the various AFVs, soft skins, and weird combos by number. In addition to the annoying "paper panzers," I see a lot of vehicles (the "Stadtgas" Stug III) that either never saw combat or were produced in ridiculously small numbers (the Porsche Tiger B - 50, count 'em 50 vehicles). While I don't fault manufacturers for maximizing their molds, I don't myself want to build a vehicle that saw limited service at best. My one exception might be that Porsche Tiger B because it has gotten so many raves as a kit.

John or Bill Do you know if the Brummbar used the same ammo as the Sig 33 Cheers Geraint

Not sure about the SIG33 against the StuH43. The SIG was a 1927 design that stayed in production through until 1945 according to Ian Hogg, German Artillery of WW2. He doesn't seem to mention the StuH 43, except as a projected new piece that bears no resemblance to either of the pieces mentioned, however he doesn't include Kwk (tank) weapons either, presumably because they don't fit into the "Artillery" pigeonhole (there are no references to SP weapons). The Germans made a habit of calling guns used for different purposes by different names even if basically the same piece, however there was some logic in their naming system, so I'd supect they are different weapons, even though the calibre is the same. The clue is in the nomenclature, a "gun" is not the same as a "howitzer". The implication of gun is a flat trajectory weapon whereas the howitzer is an indirect fire weapon for lobbing shells over an obstruction. Despite this the SIG33 was capable of high angle fire, so was really a howitzer in all but name.

I used to have the Dragon re-box of the Kirin Grille kit in my stash. It was built upon Italeri's Panzer 38(t) hull (I don't remember if the whole Italeri kit was in there). I look forward to getting this one someday.