This is called ‘Steven’s lazy WIP’ Its my halftrack, I took shots as I worked, I dunno what some are, the paint has been stripped a few times for diffrent reasons, right now its waiting to be painted because I had to strip off some primer that was too thick, so its waiting to be painted. The last pic is the EVIL ANTIENA that keeps breaking…
This is the kit
The kit is horrible, so many problems, indentations in the plastic, so many gate marks and bad fits, the figures are atrocious.
This is the WIP.
This will actuially be finished.
The tracks are done, unless you guys think there wrong. I did them that color after seeing that 1/6th scale american tank at mosquito con with it’s tracks done like that, and it looked right, so I tried it, I like it better then that gray color
Thanks, I do have a Q for this, I always see the road wheels painted black, and the tires, would they just… not paint them when doing the paint job… it would seem dumb to take time and effort to not paint the rubber on a wheel, even if it would chip off.
The main paint job would be done in the factory, so they are not under the field conditions that the troops would be under. When the Germans switched to 3 colour scheme and the troops began apply their own camo to the base yellow, i doin’t think they worried to much about camoflage for such small wheel. I can’t say i have ever seen an AFV with the rubber part of the wheel painted.
Making good progress Smeagol, just a small note about the tracks. The contact pads or cap blocks on each of the links was made out of rubber and so wouldn’t be rusty like the rest of the track.
Thanks for the headup about the tread color. Its not really rust, its just a ‘hull red’ color. But I left it so all the wheels turn, so I can just spin the tracks around and hit the parts with black, eh’.
Mikey, the reverse is actually the norm. Some of the halftracks finished in panzer gray also had elfenbein driver’s compartments but that wasn’t a widespread occurrence. As an open topped vehicle, the exposed areas usually matched the exterior color as a rule.
most cases you had field gray or Panzer gray. Though I’m not sure of the Panzer Gray part unless there is photographic evidence of it since most of the vehicles and field pieces that were painted “Panzer Gray” were actually painted “Field Gray”. Though I won’t argue that the AFV’s Panzer IV through Tiger I would have been painted Panzer Gray.
Oh and Smeagol that isn’t a antenna that you keep breaking it is the Width indicator poles. Your better off replacing them with turned brass WIP’s.
Not to detract from Smeagol’s thread, but I’m curious about where you’re getting your information Mikey about field gray interiors on halftracks? Same thing about field pieces? That’s not something I’ve heard before or seen referenced in the standard orders for vehicle paint schemes and would be something new vs. the established conventions.
The two colors are of course very different with Schwarzgrau being a very dark gray while Field Gray is actually more of a greenish color. I have read and seen examples for things like engine components/transmissions to be a field gray color but never an entire interior for a half track.
well Dragons color guides as well as the Tamiya guides. And playing all of the Call of Duty and Brothers in arms WWII games which all show the 251’s as a greenish gray color though the 222 was definitely a Shwartz Grau color.
thats a good idea, I do have a bit of wire I could use, if worse comes to worse Ill take both off, redrill the hole, and use some wire to replace it. ATM I just want to get this finished so I can say that I finished something this year
smeagol: it hasn’t been definitively stated but “field grey” was NOT an authorized color for military equipment exteriors (regardless of what the model kit inserts say). Go with the black grey.
With all due respect Mikey, those are not credible sources from which to draw that type of conclusion. The kit manufacturers’ suggested color guides often have more to do with the “preferred” brand of paint and its naming conventions than actual accurate color requirements. Drawing conclusions from a video game is also a risky thing as they often get details wrong in the name of expediency and reusing code in order to reduce development time and are more concerned with the entertainment value than they are the historical accuracy (and some are better about it than others so it’s even more hit-or-miss depending).
As Roy points out, the orders for authorized paint schemes are clear and Field Gray was never ordered as an authorized color for external use. Closed/turreted vehicles would often utilize RAL 7009 (a gray-green color) as an overcoat over the red-oxide primer for the lower hull portion (just where varied by vehicle type) but this would not hold true for open-topped/exposed vehicles. They were painted, inside and out, in RAL 7021 as the authorized scheme from July 1940 until Feb 1943 when the orders changed to use Dunkelgelb inside and out instead.
I do believe Filed grey may have been used on occasion towards the end of the war where stocks of the normal green paint were not available, but as pointed out it was not an authorised colour. And the only time that the interiour colour of opened topped vehicles differed from the exteriour was in 1943 during the switch from grey to 3 colour. Troops would have painted the exterior them selves but generalkly did not bother with the inside.
And i would deffinatly echo bill in saying that video games are not a good referance. I play CoD quite a bit but would never take it as to historacly accurate on things like that. As for Tamiya, all the kits i have seen usually suggest tamiya XF-63 for grey or XF-61 for green, i can’t say i have seen a referance to XF-65 for painting a vehicle.
