Panzer IV is rightly called the "workhorse" of the German army during the WW2 as it was performing various tasks throughout the whole war and underwent many modifications and developments. One of the most important changes that occurred to that design was a change from short-barrelled 75mm gun, which was originally intended for infantry support, to long-barrelled 75mm gun based on the time-tested Pak40, therefore improving anti-tank capacities of Panzer IV on the Eastern Front (primarily).
Transition from one stage to another is known to modellers as Panzer IV Ausf F2 and Panzer IV Ausf G. The change was accompanied by the delay of implementations of various features by several factories producing Panzer IV and this caused a mix of various elements seen on the war time photographs. The recent volume from PeKo Publishing, authored by Craig Ellis is addressing those changes and factory specific features.
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