Friends,

We have numerous tanks from all eras. What I would like to do is a historical test. This involves everyone on here. What I want to see is: Did the camo schemes work? If you can match your tank to the area is was supposed to operate in. Take some pictures from various scale distances. It will be fascinating to see the results I know it will be a bit difficult with the scale of live trees and such, however I think we wil be able to see if and how the various schemes worked to hise the tank.

I'm doing my Tigers when it stops raining.

Don

A lot of us would only be able to use a white wash scheme at the moment

Oh yeah,

I've heard about that stuff. Not seen much of it, but I've read about it.

I think I'll just keep the Tiger I inside tonight; it's -35 C here right now.

Wouldn't stepping back and shooting the tank in "telephoto" mode make those distant trees look "scale"?

10-4.....depth of field and contrast would be better.

Don, might want to wait 'til after next week./..supposed to be down to 15 Sat-Sun.


Man, Canada at -35....here you have a choice..in Korea I lived in an M-46 at that temp. Not a nice time[:'(]

Go back and dig up the threads that hatakashi(sp?) has posted the pics of his KT in the trees. There is one shot where the shadows of the leaves in the surrounding trees produce EXACTLY the effect I'm sure the Germans were looking for when they came up with that splotchy pattern.

The german three color hides the best out of mine in the VA red clay around here. When/if it quits raining i will try to get some pics.

Hello,

I took a look at the history of WWII German Camouflage a couple of years ago. RAL from Germany had an excellent explanation on their web site about the how, why and science behind the creation of the panzer 3 color dot ambush camo pattern used to hide vehicles from Allied aerial observers – photo recon cameras and photo interpreters. Which proved to sometimes work against the Allies in the ETO in places like Belgium and protect the Axis tanks from discovery in their staging areas (and helped cause Allied command mistakes like dropping Market Garden paratroopers on 2 Nazi panzer divisions and helped hide the Ardennes Offensive panzer buildup from prying Allied eyes). But most panzer camo in the ETO was used to try and hide vehicles from Jabos (fighter bombers) and Allied artillery spotters.

Here is an interesting WWII primer from the US Army on the subject: http://www.lonesentry.com/camouflage...emyaerial.html

None of this seems to relevant to the backyard battle field though, a bright shiny chrome pink tank has just as much chance to win as a masterful painted realistic ambush pattern camo panzer.

But it is a lot of fun to paint model tanks in camo, whether it actually helps or not.

John

you mean like this...

like the colour mart

We are such evil men, aren't we Paul?

Is the unit marking a das rainbow? That is clearly what I imagined and I think your perfect pink paint job just needs a little black pin stripping to better coordinate with the pink pipping on the commander's black leather panzer jacket and crush hat. But, that tank is probably not welcome in most super conservative OC backyards, where I live. Though, I do believe the diversity your King Tiger represents would make it most welcome just about anywhere else in the State of California.

Happy New Year and that is an excellent visual. John

summer King Tiger, winter StuH and Panzer IV

Ex Pat Tanker,
Is that Pink KT a tamiya or a mato with the zim taken off?

Don,
As soon as it warms up a bit ( all the way down to the 40's) I'll go out and take some pics of my Jagdpanther. I hope this thread stays active as I would like to see other's work.

Jim

Good Deal Jim,

What sparked this was a few photos I recieved, and have in the data base. I'm also interested in the people in Germany, US, Russia, and England who thought up the cammo patterns. Were they the product of local commanders, folks in the labs, or what?

Interesting stuff, I think.

Don

Is that Tamiya XF-Peto Bismol?

Don

Don,
Most definitly interesting. Look at the current Army and USMC uniforms and you can see the camo patterens that the Germans used back in WWII. So yes, it is very interesting as well as I might get some ideas for my other tanks ????

Jim

Don,
Wouldn't you know it. I waited until I had a nice late afternoon sun. Put my tanks out. Turned on the camera. And couldn't take a pic. The battery was dead and needed charging( just like our tanks). So It'll have to wait until tomorrow so long as the weather stays nice. Don't you hate it when it gets in the 40's Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I hope to be able to post tomorrow. By the time tha battery charges it will be dark. Hope others will post.

Jim

Jim,

Its a Tam. Paul was painting the KT for another club member and we'd been pulling his leg about painting it pink all summer. Paul managed to aquire a spare turret and upper for the real job, as somebody had made a pigs ear of the zim on the original parts.
And so the left overs got painted shocking pink and presented to its confused owner infront of an audience of UK club members - all of which were in on the gag...

The turret subsiquently came home with me and is now suitably zimmeritted and fitted to one of my Mato KT's
(I'm now imagining some of you spluttering into your cocoa as you read this heresy...! )

Mart