In doing some research on this vehicle, I have seen some that have portions of the anti-grenade screens removed. However, so far I have only seen this on models and re-enactor vehicles. Was this a common practice in WWII?
Not sure what you mean by portions being removed? The anti-grenade screens had two elements…the actual hinged frames and screens that covered the front portion over the gun and mount and two “U” shaped frame extensions that folded back to provide a base for a foul-weather tarp/canvas cover over the remaining area. Perhaps this is what you see missing on some?
No, not the U-shaped frames, but on the vertical portion of the screens, sometimes the actual mesh is not there. So far, I have seen the squares to the left and right of the 20mm gun (just above the MG on the left and the sight on the right). Does that make sense?
Common enough that I can easily find photos of what you are describing. Page 9 of Osprey’s German Armoured Cars and Reconnaissance Half-tracks 1939-45 has a close-up of a 222 turret showing the two forward-facing square panels of mesh are removed, probably to facilitate better forward viewing. I can find more photos of the same in other books as well. Some photos show two panels of screen on each side have been removed.
Sometimes only one is removed per side;
Kykeon,
You are either a professional librarian, or an amature with his own cross referenced directories. Either way, your scaring me[;)]
Kykeon, thanks for the info and pics! I really appreciate that!
Hehehe…The later. I probably have 10 times more books than I do models, and I’ve been modeling for over 40 years. A still functioning memory doesn’t hurt either. [:-^] It can be difficult sometimes just trying to remember which book or file to look in.
I’m not a too bad of a modeler either. [;)] Just really slow…[zzz]
Senojrn; Glad to be of some help, this question was easy compared to some…[B)]
Makes more sense now with the photos posted [:D]. I’d lean towards crew preference and/or operating theater as to why some have the screens in place and others missing…most of the PE provided screens eith in kits or by the AM manufacturers have those areas open (at least looking at the ones included in the DML Aufklarungspanzer 38t, 234/1, and 251/23), so this is why you would see models built with similar screens showing consistency in this. The 222 screens are usually either an Eduard set or ones included by Tamiya in an upgraded kit.