Hi Guys. Im a self-confessed "non" shermaholic, so my knowledge on the finer details, is aparently quite little
Im building the M4A2 Tarawa model at the moment, and am about to fix the top and bottom hull-halves together. I went through the instructions, to see what needed to be done from inside first, before closing. I have the holes all drilled for pioneer tools, but just noticed there are 2 periscopes to be fitted into the driver and machine gunners (protruding) areas, at the front. Then there are 2 more to be fitted into each hatch behind these 2.

Would all 4 be "up" at the same time, or just the front 2, or the hatch 2 or does it matter (this will be closed up .. in battle ..) so I havent a clue what the proper configuration would be. If the front 2 are up, would it be possible to use the 2 in the hatches, or would they be blinded?
Same question for the turret ... there are two located near the front of the turret and then another in the hatch ... would all 3 be up at the same time?
These questions might be easy enough for some of you guys who know about these things, but it has me baffled! I´ll also apoligise for my lack of proper names for the areas involved!
Thanks in advance for any help or tips! Cheers.

The turret periscopes would most likely have all three up (one for each of the turret crew) especially if they were about to be in unfriendly territory since all eyes were needed to scan for enemy

The driver and MG operator would have one of the two. It would be too difficult to use the forward fixed one if the rotating hatch one were emplaced, I'm pretty sure. Just do one each for the driver and MG operator.

Thanks a million Roy.
Much appreciated! Cheers.

The crews seemed to prefer the rotating hatch 'scopes over the fixed 'scopes. It's rare to find a fixed periscope in use in a combat photo.

Thanks Bob for taking the time to answer. Much appreciated.