Got a simple, basic question regarding accurate painting of Tiger I’s. I am in process of assembling reference material, but have none yet so I decided to go to the best, you guys, for an answer.
How should the exhaust tubes on the deck of the Tiger I’s be painted? Mine is an Afrika Corps Tiger I with the over-all dark yellow paint scheme. Would those tubes be the same color, or would the paint have burnt off due to the exhaust heat?
The tubes you mention are for the air filters. They do not emit the extreme temperatures of the exhaust system and aren’t any hotter than the surrounding areas. Knowing that, you can go from there. Steve
The Feifel air hoses are just that, rubber hose, not metal, as opposed to being metal exhausts. As far as painting them hull color or black for the rubber, that’s a good question that I don’t have the answer to but am sure that one of our renowned fellow members here does. My instinct would be to not paint them hull color if for the only reason that it adds a little variation to that area of the engine deck.
Hey Steve,
Thanks for that info. I have lots of studying to do on German armor I see. I am really focused on building a good reference library. I have Tigers in Combat Vol. 1 on the way, as a start, and a bunch more on the wish list.
Todd
Ya more than welcome. Steve
Tigers in combat is a very good book, but it is mostly pictures and very little text and no technical describtions. If you want technical details you should try and get D.W to Tiger I; Design, Production and modifications, by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle.
Most of the book illustrations I have show the rubber portions of the Feifel air cleaners as being black. It is difficult to find a good, clean shot of them on a war-time vehicle. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this artwork, but it looks good to me.
I’m assuming that is some kind of metal reinforcing ribs running the length of the hose.
Jean Restayn’s artwork in Tiger I on the Western Front also has them in black rubber, as does his Cyber-Hobby box art;
I’m no Tiger expert, but when we had to paint our Sheridans back the 70’s we were told not to paint the rubber covers over the water barriers because the paint would cause them to dry out and crack. That left our vehicles camo’d with a black horizontal stripe down the side. So I’d go with leaving the intake hoses black.[2c]
for me, i like to think of how the tank was built on the assembly line–it is war time – time is of the essence–build it–paint everything-- get it to the front–however, being a rubber and metal reinforced tubing (that often had to be removed for service), the paint probably easily came partially off–sooo painted or black are both correct— this is how i did it in 1/16 scale
a little compromise----treadwell[:P]