Hello everyone, newbie here. I am expanding my modeling builds to include ww2 tanks, both Allied and Axis. My question is this, I am going to build an M48 Patton in 1/35 soon.Although this is a post ww2 tank, I got a good deal on it. I have searched several sites for detailed painting schemes and markings, so far so good, I am wondering what the mechanizms are on the sides of the turret that look like mini-mortars? I have seen these on multiple tanks buit I’ve never understood what their functions are . They are usually mounted in rows and are cocked at an angle… I’m trying to learn as much about the make up of tanks that hold my interest, so I’m going to come off as a bit uninformed here. If anyone can disifer what I’m asking here, I’d really appreciate your feedback.
Thanks and best regards, Rich
Those are usually smoke grenade launchers. They throw the grenades at different angles to get a maximum coverage as quickly as possible. Depending on the manufacturer some can fire a specific tube or bank of tubes and others just shoot the whole wad.
On US tanks, the smoke grenade launchers could be fired in two salvos. Each salvo would launch half the grenades from each side. Their purpose was to hide the tank from guided missiles and were defensive in nature. If you saw a Hind-D helicopter or the telltale signature of a guided missile (like the Soviet Sagger) being fired, you’d have seconds to hit the launchers and hope the smoke would build quickly enough so the missile or its gunner would lose the ability to track you.
Launching them was as easy as flicking up the guard and flipping a toggle switch. You can see the arming switch in this photo I took on the right hand side. The red item is the guard. There is a similar switch with guard in the center of the photo. This is for the vehicle smoke generator that basically sprays diesel fuel on the hot exhaust and creates a large plume of white smoke. The work in conjunction to keep the vehicle from eating a missile.
