Sherman Vision cupolas
 

Hi,

Does anyone know if the vision cupolas on the Sherman T23 (76mm) turrets carried tinted glass? And if so what was the color?

Thanks

Larry

It's been a while since I've read about it, but I believe the consensus was the armored glass in the cupola was generally clear, usually tinted green for scale effect in modeling. I think the dark tinted versions stem from modelers painting them that way because the part was molded solid.

I don't know about modern armor with electronics or optics, etc, but in WWII, I don't see an advantage to a dark tint of a glass you need to see through in a whole host of conditions, including night.

http://the.shadock.free.fr//sherman_...s/cupolas.html

check it out.

If it were me and I were painting the stock Tamiya cupola I would go with a semi-gloss black.

If using a clear lense I would check to see what it looked like left alone, then maybe a dark blue with some black added to it. The lense used is different in outward appearance as to the periscope lenses (from WWII) which appears as green or bluish tint but the fact remains... do what looks good to your eyes or matching up to supplied images. :cool:




Jeff

Agree with Jeff, do what looks good to your eye. I've even used old exposed camera film cut to fit.

Thanks guys,

I used Micro Krystal Klear to create the "glass" in the commanders cupola and it dried a little fuzzy. I think I'm going to go with Jeff's suggestion blue/black- but i might leave one clear... :-)

I hope to post some photos of my "Easy 8" soon. Picked up a refurbish job on Ebay a while back and have finally gotten the paint done - Standard Tamiya hull with Nick Aguilar turret. No recoil, but the flash looks great - not sure if i'm going end of WW2 or Korea markings...

Thanks again...

Larry