B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I had already posted this question in my own extremely long KV-1 thread, but thought there might be more interest or discussion of the topic if it had its own thread.

I have not seen or really found good detailed information with the KV-1 on this subject. However, depending on the tanks, I've seen greenish, blueish, & even reddish tint colors used to simulate periscope glass reflection. Some might even just use gloss black or another almost black dark gloss color just so there is kind of a hint of reflection, but really no actual color shining out the scopes.

It would be great if anyone who has done their KV-1 periscopes, could offer their opinions.

If so, what color did you use for the glass reflection, if any at all, & what information or pictures prompted you to choose your color?


~ Craig ~

pattoncommander

Use a piece of plexiglass and insert it into the scope housing. Better is plexiglass mirror. Periscopes are all the same, and "color" is dependant of where it's oriented and interrior lighting. If at night, you may well see red from the interior lighting. If the hatches are open, it will be lighter, if buttoned up, you will probably see nothing other than what is reflected from outside on the glass. If there is someone behind it, you may see a pair of eyeballs looking back at you. I've used plexi mirror scraps for p-scopes on many tanks and it's amazing how many people will look into the periscope of a tank on display and wig out and smile when they see thier eyes looking back. Plain "glass" or plexi will look more authentic for dark interrior Soviet tanks.

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Thanks for the input pattoncommander. I know I described what I'm looking as just "reflection", but I have realized if there was any color you would probably see on WWII scopes it was more from inside light projecting through the scope, giving it those various color tones, & otherwise I assumed you would just see outside reflections if there was no interior light bleed through on the scope glass.

Though I didn't know for certain if all WWII scopes used the same glass, basically clear, or if some might have been tinted at all. I did however assume that newer glass in modern tanks may be tinted & have their own colors without inside light bleed, though that doesn't really matter with this subject anyway.

Hatches will never be open, so that won't really matter for what my scopes would be trying to simulate, & unfortunately I have no plexi or glass I could use, so I'm hoping I can just make something up out of scrap that would look OK & not look, well, like cráp.

For just a reflective interior scope box, without trying to simulate interior light bleed but rather outside reflections, how about tin foil with a piece of shiny plastic over it, or just use the same shiny plastic but coat the back with a gloss black to simulate the scope glass?

Though I'm still wondering what color you might see coming through a Russian WWII scope if there was light bleed from the interior.


~ Craig ~

pattoncommander

Diff with WW II periscopes and todays, older M-6 have a single 1x6 inch viewing window as opposed to days scopes 2 or 3 times the view and normally 3 scopes..pioneered on the M-41 looking ahead and also toward the L and R fenders.

Re' plexiglass....man, you can pick up scraps from any where that does bath or interrior home remoldeling..especially mirror. They'll give you the scraps and let you dig some out of the trash. Hell, you only need a couple pieces 10mm x about 6mm....Check junked mobile homes...mirrors are plexi.... some aircraft models have plexi canopies on a clear sprue...and model shope may have clear plexi strips.

Here are some shots of scopes on a Pershing and IDF M-1. These are shot with a light straight at them, so they reflect. The first photo shows all you need for a US periscope, but for the KV, all you need is a clear piece to fit in the scope housing..or sit under the armored hood.

PM me and I'll send you a couple pieces.

Bill

Pah co chu puk

For my Panther I just cut out some clear plastic from the box my kids train set came in.  I painted the inside of the housing gloss black or silver to reflect light, I tried both colors, and I think the black worked better.

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

Bill, thank you for taking time to make some suggestions & for the very nice offer to send me some plexi, but that won't be necessary. If I decided it was the only way worth going that would look decent, you are right, I could go out & find some locally. I just like using up items (or trash) I already have around my home if I can get away with it, & it turns out looking fairly decent, so that's what I was hoping I could do when making up some scopes to go under the KV's protective covers ... though there are times I'll make the extra effort & go out to get things when they are needed, for something like this that really isn't a "must have" feature for me, I really loathe doing it.

If I put any scopes in there at all though, it would probably draw some more attention to them, & I'm wondering if just gluing in a reflective block inside the protective covers will look better than not having anything in there at all to draw attention to them in the first place. Because of that, I'm just not sure I will be doing this mod, since I might not be happy with the results unless I make myself put in the extra effort to ensure they really look decent.

The covers are so low it's difficult to work on anything under them, so gluing in scopes will be a little precarious with them still attached in place. At the very least I should probably remove all the covers to make positioning & gluing the scopes easier. That in itself will be a slight pain, especially since I already painted the turret base coat, & I know I'll muck things up trying to remove the covers. Another option even if I don't remove the covers, which would probably offer better looking results, would be to cut a hole from the underside of the protective covers, & insert the scopes up into them. Not really looking forward to either of those options for something I was on the fence about doing to possibly improve aesthetics anyway lol.

I did throw something together very quickly & place it temporarily inside the protective cover just to have something to take a look at, & see if having some kind of scope inside the cover would look better to me than nothing at all. It was made from some styrene, with an angled back where some silver mylar (from a candy wrapper) was glued to it for the reflective surface. You can actually see the light reflection coming off it & back onto the tank hull inside the housing in the first picture ... but I really didn't care too much for this first attempt, maybe because the styrene was a little too thick for the scope itself, & should be thinner.


~ Craig ~

B.A.D.A.S.S.Force

I'm going to try some plastic with a black backing to compare to the silvery reflective glass I first tried too. Maybe that will make some difference, but I think the little scope housing I make for the glass has to have thinner looking walls itself, the one I threw together, the walls look a little pudgy when comparing it to how the real scope housing looks inside the protective cover in the picture of the Aberdeen KV-1.


~ Craig ~

pattoncommander

Easy 'nuff just to cut a piece a mm under the size of the scope housing and insert with tweezers. A clear piece with a pair of eyes on the back would be interesting. Good luck.