Does anyone know if the Soviets painted the tracks on T-34s in 1941? I’m thinking traces of Russian Green under the rust, mud and wear would look pretty cool…
Every piece of WWII footage I have seen show the tracks unpainted and installed towards the end of production as the vehicle is ready to drive out of the factory its self.
Now over spray from field applied camouflage or winter white wash dripping on the tracks is very possible.
One idea I have been pondering in the depths of my mind is to model a unpainted T-34 leaving the Tractor factory in Stalingrad and firing directly into the German lines.
Myself, I don’t see it happening. The Soviets were in dire straits and needed every Tank they could get their hands on and if something was working at knocking out German Tanks, they wanted it in an even bigger hurry. Some overspray may have happened…but I am assuming that the vehicle would have had a coat of paint before the tracks were installed , much like an assembly line. My [2cnts] worth!
Clarification (maybe): I’m talking about tanks put into service just before Barbarossa erupted and put the pressure on. But maybe it simply wasn’t Soviet practice to paint treads EVER, not even in the pre-war days, as an anti-rust measure? It would be such a subtle thing (which would be difficult to pull off meaningfully anyway) that I may skip it.
But any track that went fifty feet would have any protective coat worn off. I would only put paint on any tracks that have just left the factory floor and not ever placed onto any vehicle.
I guess anything’s possible. In my LaGG-3 research, I’m finding tons of photos of planes where the canopies have been removed (presumably because the visibility through the coke bottle glass was so poor), half of the gear doors are missing, etc. And these are grainy, crappy pics. One can only imagine how ghetto those planes looked in person.
Based on what little I know of Soviet practices, I wouldn’t imagine they would paint the tracks, or really worry about protecting them from corrosion. Theirs was definitely a quantity over quality operation, especially in '41.
Actually, the T-34’s encountered in '41 were of good pre-war quality, something that after June wouldn’t be seen again for the rest of the war…however, even if they were painted green (or any other color) the paint would very quickly be worn off through normal operation, so it really is a moot point…
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I don’t think so, that would have been a waste of paint and it would wear off in like 2 days.
No, that would look very, very amateur. Don’t do it.
Thanks for all the advice, gentlemen! Think I’ll skip it!