Pz III Applique Armour Mantlet Shape

[Stephen White]

A puzzle:

The applique armour on the Bovington Pz III has a rectangular shape with a straight bottom edge and sharp corners:



This is of course the shape Mark has modelled.



I have not yet found any evidence of this shape in contemporary WWII photos of the Ausf L, all of which to date have shown a different shape with rounded corners and a stepped bottom edge:



This shape is also present on the Aberdeen Proving Ground Ausf L:



And on other survivors:



Could there be a clue in the following picture which shows the Bovington vehicle just after capture minus the mantlet applique armour?



Could it be that the applique mantlet armour on the vehicle today is a post war addition and not of the correct shape? If so, our Pz IIs will need modification. I've asked David Fletcher at the Tank Museum if he can help.

Has anyone any photographic evidence to support the flat bottom edge being authentic?

[colin fairweather]

hi stephen

not too sure but you might be on to something this drawing is what i will be working off



colin

[Lawrence Godson]

It seems as though the correct curve of the mantlet is less also, correct?

[Adrian Harris]

I've looked through some of the books I have and it was difficult to see the shape of the lower part of the mantlet on most of them I'll have a trawl through some more tonight.

Does anyone have the set of Panzerwrecks books - they might be a good source of photos

It did look on a close-up of one tank that the cut-outs were mods to allow the gun to depress fully without clashing with the bullet splash guards on the hull roof.

One of the photo-gallery books seemed to indicate that one of the Pz IIIs at Aberdeen had the same flat bottomed spaced armour but it wasn't at all clear - one for Tim to investigate

Adrian.

[leesellars]

Hello Adrian

The Panzerwrecks are a very good reference books well worth getting and they arnt exspensive. I use them all the time. I have all six and 7 is comeing out later on this month. www.landmarkmilitarybooks.co.uk
www.worldwartwobooks.com and www.barbarossabooks.co.uk.
Hope this helps

Lee

[Kent Wiik]

Hi all,

Not an expert on Panzer III but can give you my 2 cents of opinion for what it is worth...

The spaced armor plate on the Bovington PzIII is most certain post wars add on and not accurate as sadly most post war adds on are
(just look how thin it is and the 2 holes for the gunner are missing).
The Bovie PzIII looks more like a tank without the x-tra plate then a tank with one
The mantle was often seen with additional armor plate as seen in Stephens photos above but was also seen without as this photo shows:

(love those Ostketten - a 1/6th Stug III with such would be very hard to resist... )

Here is a drawing about the additional spaced bolted armor plate:


Hope this was of any help.

Kent

[Dirk Schweinsberg]

Hello

I think the applique mantlet armour in the kit ist not correct. As we look at the original photos we can see that.

Question to Mark: Is there a chance to get a corrected applique mantlet armour?

HOSSA Dirk

[Armortek]

Hi Dirk

We do not plan to replace the applique mantlet armour. You are of course free to modify the piece supplied with the kit to a more accurate shape for yourself.

regards
Mark