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Are there really Tigers in Tunisia? Completed 15/Dec/17


Gazzas

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Gents, these are creative decisions. I personally would not go against David, who has helped me on a review I did of the Academy Tiger I (Late).

 

First-person accounts are notoriously inaccurate, especially as German camo procedure was not standardized and varied enormously. Some paint was applied at the factory, but most was put on in the field, some with spray guns and some with mops and whatever was at-hand.

 

The good news is that Dragon has been consulting with David to improve the accuracy of their kits, and so you can't go wrong with one of their new Tigers.

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drg6820.jpg

 

This is the kit he's using.  It is not representative of the the intial Tiger I's deployed by SpzAbt 501 in N. Afrika.  I am under the impression that by the time these guys appeared, the coloration of these tigers was as per the instructions.  David was a consultant on these kits (above and below) and from what I've read, they got the colors as close to prototypical as is humanly possible.  I'm not sure but I think the OD painted Tiger I's has been disproven.  I'm relying on what I read a few minute ago at Missing-Lynx about these tanks and David suggests that these tanks may have been painted in the same patterns as the earlier tanks (dark tan/pea green).  That jives with the instructions in this kit that show geen/tan camouflage.

 

 

H_DRA6608_00.jpg

 

These are the initial tigers deployed to N. Afrika.  The coloration on these guys was just determined (with a great deal of input from David) to have pea green striping as shown in the kit instructions.  This was a revelation at the time as previous information held that they were overall dark tan (I forget the RAL Number). 

Edited by Juggernut
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s I understand it WW2 

 

As I understand it German tank crews were required to abandon their tanks only after destroying it themselves.  They were also supposed to stay with a tank if it was not on fire and still in running condition. Wait for rescue or, if drivable, try to drive it back so it could be salvaged or repaired. Rules obviously written by some REMF 1000 miles behind the front lines. 

 

I watched an interview with a former SS tank crewman (driver I think) who said during the Battle of the Bulge, the only time they were authorized to abandon their vehicle was if it was on fire.  He related how he and his crewmates were forced to remain in their disabled vehicle until it was eventually set on fire (I think he said it was over a day during a sporadic tank battle/fire fight).

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No, it wasn't meant to look green. I found a paint chip online claiming to be RAL 8000 and matched it as much as possible. I allow myself a lot of latitude.

 

The plan is for the base coat to be the darkest, then I can weather in lighter shades.

 

Gaz

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s I understand it WW2 

 

As I understand it German tank crews were required to abandon their tanks only after destroying it themselves. 

 

I think it might be better to abandon ship first, then blow it up. Destruction first negates the need to abandon it.

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Well, RAL 8000 is grünbraun which means green brown, and as you can see it is a brown with a greenish tint to it.

 

It's just not that green.

I wonder about many of these German colors names. Violetgrau, graugrun...etc. most of the time they just look like different shades of gray. Violetbrun is the most curious. How does one see a shade of violet in brown?

 

For me, I put some red and blue in my grey to make RLM 74. And some green in my gray for 75. Usually too much since it seems pointless to just have two shades made from just black and white paint.

 

Gaz

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Well, RAL 8000 is grünbraun which means green brown, and as you can see it is a brown with a greenish tint to it.

 

It's just not that green.

 

Yep, my mistake on the pea green.  After a little more reading, the "green" color was not really that green as you and Gazzas said.  I was thinking that the 8000 was a pea green when it most definitely is not.  I put too much faith in the Dragon kits color illustrations.  David Byrden outlines the colors of some of the earlier tanks in his evaluation of the 6608 kit here: http://tiger1.info/EN/6608-colours.html

 

There's unfortunately not a similar set of comments for colors on the Dragon 6820 kit but the info contained in the 6608 kit comments I believe applies to this kit as well.

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  • 5 weeks later...

After a long detour on my F-104, I'm finally back to Tiger 111.  I'm at a point where I have to place a decal before I can add one of the last parts.  That's the cable that is hung on the port side of the chassis.  It needs a Balkenkreuz underneath it.  I haven't even detached the skirts from the sprue.

 

This is my impression of the low contrast camo used on the Tigers of SPz. Abt. 504 in North Afrika.

 

Here are some shots:

 

112849.jpg

 

112857.jpg

 

112909.jpg

 

112918.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

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