Getting ready to start building my DML Marder II/ SdKfz-131. I’ve read conflicting info regarding interior colors on Marders and other SP gun variants, so I’ll poll the knowlege base in here:
In open-top vehicles, it was obvious practice to paint the fighting compartment the same color as the vehicle exterior, minus camo. But, given that all the variants in the Marder family were conversions of vehicles that began their service life as tanks, would the driving compartment be repainted in the panzer gray or dunkelgelb of the exterior, or left in its (presumably) original buff or off-white?
Usually the only areas that are painted to match the exterior are those that would be observable from the air as a rule of thumb. The way the Marder II driver’s compartment is set up has it almost entirely enclosed, retaining much of the design from the original Pz II layout. I think that all of the enclosed areas would likely remain elfenbein and not be repainted dunkelgelb, but that’s just my intuition talking.
That made sense to me, too, though a couple of sources contended that the entire interior should be painted in the exterior color. The buff would be the better color for the driver, as it enhances visibility within the compartment, as well as minimizing the claustrophobic closeness of such a tight area (I was a submariner- I know these things!). Additionally, it seems that the always thrifty Germans would not “waste” exterior paint on such a space, when so much elfenbein was surely still on hand in depot stocks.
The whole interior wouldn’t be elfenbein, the floor would likely have been red oxide and the transimission a gray-green color for example. I flipped through the Wydaniwicto book on the Marder II and there aren’t any shots of the interior and the only ones I’ve got are from the old AFV Interiors site of the subject at the Patton Museum, but it’s been repainted and isn’t in the original so it’s no help on the color issue.