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Top view of crew hatches and rear engine deck stowed with equipment. Storage crates, water canisters, tarpin, bedroll, helmets came from 1980s-era TAMIYA armor model kits. Silicon glue used to  secure rear parts since it would not dissolve plastic or smear painted surfaces. For historical purists, German water canisters had 3 hand-hold bars instead of 2 bars depicted above. Engine ventilation wire mesh from VERLINDEN wire mesh after-market kit, cut to size and superglued, ventilation shaft painted flat black to give depth perception. Verlinden Productions - www.verlinden-productions.com/products.html
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Inset 1 : Before Schurzen (armored side skirts) introduction, German armor crews mounted spare tracks onto superstructure as defacto applique armor, as with these Stug crews in southern Russia circa 1943. Gun muzzle wrapped in tarpin to prevent dust/debris from clogging gun barrel during long distance travels. Tactic prematurely detonated enemy shaped-charged warheads, hence dissipated majority of energy before impacting crew compartment. StuG III, StuH and StuG IV - www.wargamer.com/Hosted/Panzer/stug.htm
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Rollover : ( Rollover JPG link ) Gunner side Machinengewehr 42 (MG42) machine gun with wrapped ammo belt, this prevented belt from snagging internal parts. Photo-etched 1.35th ammo belt from Verlinden Productions. MG42 was standard machine gun issued to Landser (infantry), Panzergrenadieren (armored infantrymen), and Panzertruppen (armored crewmen), latter of which used it for close-in defense against encroaching enemy infantry. MG42 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG42
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Superb German engineering of MG42 demonstrated astonishing rate of fire circa 1,500 rounds/minute, contrasted with American 30-caliber machine gun with 800-rounds rate and British Bren machine gun with 600-rounds rate. MG42 firepower was such that individual bullets leaving its barrel could not be distinguished by human ear, only a continuous roaring stream of sound of which Soviets nicknamed weapon HITLER'S BUZZSAW. Intimidation was such that US War Department produced WW2 infantry training film on how not be to frightened by its awesome firepower, but as one US veteran remarked that "It's (MG42) bark was as worse as its bite". MG42 YouTube Video - www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBrCTONvgvo
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Inset 2 : March 1943, MG42 in infanrty-support role, used by SS-Leibstandarte Panzergrenadieren during  the famed German counter-offensive in retaking Kharkov : major transportation hub in Ukraine (also written Kharkiv and Charkow due to Slavic-Cyrillic to Latin Alphabet transliteration). Cyrillic alphabet - www.omniglot.com/writing/cyrillic.htm
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MG42 squad setting up suppression fire for advancing Panzergrenadieren, gunner has belt-fed ammunition instead of magazine drum, along with machine gun repair kit in large box poach and two Potato Masher (German Stickgranaten) grenades snugged inside of waist belt. SS grenadieren also wore signatory winter jackets designed by SS research department for Ostfront.
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Concerning Kharkov, 5 major battles ensued from 1941 - 1943 :
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1) Oct 1941, city taken by initial German invasion
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2) May 1942, complete Soviet counter-offensive on city fell into German encirclement and utterly destroyed
Second Battle of Kharkov - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov
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3) Feb 1943, with momentum from Stalingrad victory, Soviets retook city
The Third Battle of Kharkov - www.battlefront.co.nz/article.asp?articleid=263
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4) Mar 1943, advancing out of Kharkov, Soviet forces fell to German pincer, SS Panzergrenadieren retook city
The Third Battle of Kharkov - www.battlefront.co.nz/Article.asp?ArticleID=271
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5) Aug 1943, with failed German Kursk Salient offensive, Soviets counter-attacked and retook city. From this point onward, Germans in precipitous withdrawal from Soviet territory.
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