Is the slanted back plate of Stug F’s casemate interlocked with the side plate similar to the welded armor joints on later german AFVs?
None of the drawings i can find shows any interlocked joints for the back plate on any of the Stugs. I only found one photo that appears to show the slanted rear plate on F is connected to the side plates with an interlocked weld joint. But the photo is unclear.
can anyone help here? thanks.
i think that is G. the G’s casemate backplate is vertical above engine deck. on F Or earlier the back plate is slanted
It is, but I can’t think of a good reason to change the design. Angling makes sense from a balistic standpoint. Changing the fabrication of it not so much.
Interlocking weld joints seems to be something the German first introduced on the Tiger in mid 1942 and then gradually applied to existing AFV models as well. The production time frame of Stug F and early G would seem to be the right timeframe for introduction of interlocking welds to the Stug Family. The question is exactly when was it introduced to the Stug Family? During the production run of F, F/8 or G?
I decided for my back dated Ausf F/8 model I will be adventurous and assume Stug 3 Ausf F/8 had interlocking armor on the back plate based on the one relatively blurring photo of the Ausf F that seems to show it. If I am wrong I will plead “you don’t know for sure……”
My model is back dated from Das Werk’s 1/16 Stug G. It omitted the interlocking weld completely. Point to note for anyone seeking to superdetail it.
One last resort - I don’t know if they have one at the U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection at Ft. Moore or not. I was there Thanksgiving week but it was not on my radar. You could call and ask Len. Easier than calling Kubinka I should think.
Or email the Australian Armor and Artillery Museum; they’re currently working on restoration of a StuG IIIG, so you can probably get a definitive answer from them.
It doesn’t interlock. See minute 2:25 of the world’s only remaining example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqfKr8fuFo
I don’t care what he’s talking about, look at the image at 2:25 and follow the seam of the rear casemate. The image you have posted is of an Ausf. G, the large hole in the center of the plate with the 6 bolt holes is for the relocated ventilator. The Ausf F also does not have the lifting loop welded to the side of the casemate either. The vehicle in the video I posted is the only remaining Ausf F in the world, it was rebuilt in the Czech Republic. At 2:43, the moment from which your image was taken, he is comparing the angled back of the Ausf F to the straight back of the Ausf G, that they are currently restoring. Watch the video again.
Stug III F production ended in Sept. 1942, interlocking plates were only being introduced in Stug production in October of 1943, more than a year later.
I believe Hilary Doyle was taking about the engine deck cover. The front of the fighting compartment had some interlocked joint by no later than middle of F series production. The narrow slightly slanted vertical plate running across the front roof of the front of the fighting compartment, across the top of gun embrasure, is interlocked into the side walls of the fighting compartment in both F and F/8.
Dragon thinks the slanted rear plate is interlocked into the side as well and showed a interlocked joint there on their late f/8 kit
