Lert's JagdPanther

[ALPHA]

Have to admit Herman.... the Germans did wonders with Plate steel hung off the sides of their tanks... even added a little style to the Panzer IVs...I'm not sure they served the purpose as well as the skirts on a Sherman though...sure they deflected minor shell shock...but probably exposed the crew to a lot more dust
With that said... Lert did an outstanding job ... the Schurzen adds the right amount of added detail..it really looks finished to the right degree

ALPHA

[billpe]

The skirts were to reduce the penetration of anti tank rifle rounds. A few mm of spaced armor was enough to reduce the bullets penetrative power when it met the main armour it had no effect. It meant a huge weight saving.

The side effects of affecting HEAT rounds, shaped charges, explosives etc was all coincidence and not the original reason for the skirts.

[Lert]

The side effects of affecting HEAT rounds, shaped charges, explosives etc was all coincidence

There is even conflicting information about the schurzen's effectiveness against man-portable HEAT rounds from bazooka's and captured panzerfausts etc. Some people seem to think that they actually (marginally) improved those weapons' effectiveness by giving the ideal (or near to) stand-off distance for the detonation. I don't know how true these claims are though. But, yes, combating russian 14.5mm PTRD's and PTRS's was their primary function.

Well, until they ran out of sheet steel and started using mesh screens which were useless against aforementioned rifles.

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!

[billpe]

I've never read that but it makes sense. It's a bit like using tracks as armour. The studies which were conducted showed that all it did was tear off the ballistic shell of the penetrator before it met the main armour. It actually made the incoming AP rounds more effective!