I am building a Sdfz251Hanomag from Tamiya. This is my first serious build that will include weathering. I have a couple of mostly finished tanks that I will used for practice weathering. The question is for the interior. I saw one that had a rust brown looking deck, but would the interior be gray interior with the sand exterior?
I will be doing a shipped in Gray that was repainted. also would the seat material be brown leather, or gray or???
my goal is get good enough with the finishing to do an acceptable job on my Stuart[:)]
The interior would’ve been gray to match the exterior, not sure if the interior would also have been repainted to match the sand exterior, you could go either way and probably be on safe ground. The floor plate, since it would’ve been exposed from above, wouldn’t have been left in red oxide.
The seat material would’ve been either brown or black leather for the bench seats and the driver’s cushions.
…according to my experience, most repainted vehicles in N. Africa did not have their interiors repainted, and/or if they did it was probably worn away so quickly as to look like it hadn’t been…as far as the cushioning color, that is a much-debated question…I have seen/done it in leather, green and grey…
Manny is correct. Many of the North African 251’s did not recieve dark yellow paint jobs over their grey interiors. Supplies were short and crews were happy just to camo the exterior. That dark grey must have stuck out like a sore thumb in the desert.
A word of advice. The beer keg lookin’ piece that fits b’tween the front seats on the Tamiya kit should be tossed. It was only found on Ambulance versions.
Good luck my man. Please put up pics when you are able.
Often; what looks like a sand-coloured German vehicle was actually a Panzer Grey painted one with a coating of mud to enable it to blend into the surroundings better. You would get the grey coming through where the mud had worn away. As I understand it; this what happened to Rommel’s half-track so it would likely happen to other vehicles.
A very minor point for you: the vehicle in question was called the Sdkfz 251 and not the “hanomag”. Hanomag was one of seven manufacturers. The term “Sdkfz 251 Hanomag” is a creation of Tamiya’s marketing dept. Just call it an SdKfz 251 or an SPW (heavy APC in german)