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Jeff,
I've read the Kubinka museum thinks they have the prototype-- which supposedly did not have zimmeritt-- I guess the question is where you heard all of them had zimmeritt-- since this photo looks like that's not the case-- other photos of lesser quality clearly show zimmerit-- this photo does not seem to show it- again, we don't have the full population of Sturms to examine-- don't you agree it's possible?
VR Russ
I would say both of these images show some sort of extra armour plate mounted with bolts (bolts are visible in both pictures - but not on clear zimmerit pictures). I 'believe' this plate was mounted on top of the 'recycled' tiger I hull, whether there was zimmerit underneath or not. That's my thought, we might never know as mentioned before...
I also like to mention that these images are shot with the sunlight comming from the rear of the tank, so 'if' it had zimmerit on this plate it would be in the shadow and therefore harder to see...
(it's the same tank btw)
kind regards
steven
Steven, Yes-- I agree with what you have said, but in similarly darkened and shadowed photos of other Sturmtigers shot from similar angles, the Zimmeritt is clearly visible. Do I understand you to say this tank has side armor bolted over the Zimmeritt that might have pre-existed from a rebuilt hull? I've never heard of that, but it would make this an interesting vehicle variant. I wonder how many others there were. I did find one good B&W quartering shot of a German cross marked Sturm with steel wheels and a production mantlet without zimmeritt, in what appears to be Dunklegelb, which I first took to be a factory shot of the production vehicle, but the more I looked at the photo, I think it's just a B&W shot of a museum rebuild. This zimmeritt thing is a mystery that I doubt we'll solve here. As I mentioned before, I'm building a dio of one that had Zimmeritt-- and at least two different paint schemes on the same vehicle so I'm not concerned for my build. This mixture of paint schemes kind of proves to me that in the rushed days at the end of the war, anything could and did happen. My point is only that if someone wants a "slick" Sturmtiger, it could be built that way. I've also learned after 30 years in the military not to say anything is absolute, or "this is the way it was done with no exceptions", because from personal experience I can say for every rule or regulation there is always an exception. So-- if bolt on armor is the answer here-- great!
VR, Russ
