I know that they were painted overall sand, but what about the lower parts and the inner side of the wheels?.. Should I paint it sand as well? Or maybe the sand color was applied on field and they didn’t bother ainting under the vehicle… Thanks in advance. Bets regards.
José
Jose,
It’s a little more complex than that if you’re looking for accuracy…the 222’s would’ve gone over to N. Afrika in the original panzer gray and then either given an overall mud type of camo pattern or would’ve been repainted in the field after March '41 in the authorized two-tone scheme of RAL 8000 Gelbbraun and RAL 7008 Graugrun. The idea of “desert yellow” or “desert sand” as an actual color is a creation of the various model makers and paint suppliers and not what was really used. To your question though, they wouldn’t have necessarily put these vehicles up on raised platforms to paint the undersides, so they would likely have stayed in the original factory color. As vehicles were “tropicalized” at the factory they were painted in the authorized “Tropen” scheme prior to shipment, so only vehicles already in-theater would’ve received a field repaint. HTH.
OK. That’s all I wanted to know. Best regards.
José.
I’m doing a DAK Sd.Kfz.232 at the moment, that started life in overall Panzergrau. It was repainted in overall RAL8000 after it arrived in theatre, but the undersides of the hull, insides of the mudguards, and the runninig gear, remained in Panzergrau.
Generally, the workshops had better things to do with their time than to repaint bits of vehicles which wouldn’t be seen, especially if they had to put the vehicle up on ramps to do it.
Plus, it makes for a more interesting colour scheme, and weathering possibilities!
Cheers,
Chris.