Can someone please tell me what the undercarriages of afv’s are painted if the rest of the hull is camouflaged? I thought just the main coat (ie dark/desert yellow for most german tanks and stuff) as camo is obviously obsolete and a waste of precious fighting time down there.
Cheers!
On US modern vehicles, the under carriage is in the same color the vehicle was manufactured in or was repainted during rebuild. When the camouflage is repainted or changed (like a NATO colored vehicle getting tanned for the desert), the underside is not painted.
German WW2 vehicles would leave the factory with the undersides painted the same color as the rest of the hull but wouldn’t have received any type of camo pattern whether field applied or factory applied. As you mention, this wasn’t seen as a benefit and would’ve largely been a waste of paint and time/effort.
A educated guess, mid to late war German vehicles probally had red oxide primer under them. Ones in longer service have almost all underside paint chipped, scraped, scratched off and various stages of rust formed. Dried mud and dust would cover large areas anyways. There are a few photos of tanks showing their underside, turned on their side or even upside down. Now if someone could find a color one or two it will help a lot.
While that would seem to make sense on the surface, the reality is that the hulls were manurfactured separately from the turrets and the manufacturers were required to paint the entire hull to the Waffenamt specifications prior to them being accepted for delivery at the final assembly plant. The hull manufacturing centers utilized giant rotisserie-like machines to rotate the hulls in order to bore out the various suspension mechanicals and other fittings and these same machines were used for the painting prior to the hulls being completed and shipped to the assembly plant. During the period when red oxide primer was used, the vehicles were still required to be base coated in another color (panzer gray or dunkelgelb) or, late war, received a base coat of olivegrun. While there is debate about the possibility of some primer being left exposed as part of the factory applied camo pattern, the underside of the hull would still have been oversprayed in the appropriate basecolor regardless of the practice for the camo. This is all well documented in factory orders for the period.
As for the ones in longer service, some chipping or scratching would be likely due to normal wear and tear from driving conditions but they wouldn’t have gotten to the point of say what you might see on heavy duty construction equipment or similar. They simply didn’t last that long for one thing and the paints used were far more durable than we give them credit for, so any rust would be very minor and localized as opposed to the entire underside. Dirt, mud, dust, etc. accumulation yes of course that would happen. The armor plating on the underside needed to remain protected from rust as rust weakens armor and this of course was also the thinnest area of armor on the vehicle as a rule. [;)]
[sn0ps]Indeed,
I stand corrected and thanks for clearing up any misconceptions regarding Panzer bellys. All accuracy aside I leave the underside of the hull untill the last, usually have it blue puttied to a piece of wood untill then for handeling. Wearing a clean leather glove to avoid finger prints its then brush painted flat earthy colors before mounting to a suitable base.
Now is modern red oxide primer close to the type used on WWII German armor, if not which is darker?
I’m not sure what modern red oxide primer looks like, but the WW2 German red oxide was a Tabasco-like red color. If you look at pics of various museum pieces that haven’t been restored, you can often see the primer showing especially on those that had zimmerit applied where the zim has come off or was damaged over time.
Checked out your site Bill, excellent work!
Modern red oxide primer is a bit darker from your description, closer to Tamiya red brown just a bit more on the red side. Now was that Tabasco sauce extra hot or regular?
Thanks for the compliment on the site, the Tabasco would be extra-hot of course! [:D]