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Heading for Tobruk: A Panzer IIIG: Figure Painting 11/Feb/18


Gazzas

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I think it's looking great.  You may want to consider wearing the tracks.  Contemporary photos seem to show quite a bit of wear and some rust:

 

825c2ec8a8c7caa5e78fcb899a37b95d.jpg

Mark,

    Thank you! 

 

Although tank tracks rust quickly, they also polish up quickly when the vehicle is moving.  When I was a young Marine I served on the M109A3:

m109a3_01.jpg

Picture for discussion only

 

When we ventured from the gun park onto the tank trails, the metal elements of the tracks became quite shiny as the dirt quickly removed the rust.

 

Gaz

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Not lots of rust on in-service panzers in the desert.

Pictures of debris and burned-out tanks shouldn't be used as a weathering template for operational vehicles.

 

Look at the following, a photo of a semovente in the North African desert, during the time period:

 

Color+Photos+of+Tunisia+and+Libya+in+the

 

Sure, it's a wreck.  But you'll also see rust on the fenders, which I don't think was caused by a fire. 

 

This one shows rust on the exhaust:

 

Color+Photos+of+Tunisia+and+Libya+in+the

 

And this one shows signs of rust on in-service artillery pieces:

 

Color+Photos+of+Tunisia+and+Libya+in+the

 

I'd say that, unless the tanks were in a place where there was no moisture, there'd be some rust on areas where the paint wore off.  Myself, I'd add a little rust here and there.  To each his own, though.

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As an artilleryman, I can tell you that we cleaned our weapons daily in the field.  Rust is not tolerated.  Period.

 

We've no way of knowing how long these captured and damaged pieces were left unattended.  Rust only takes a short period of time to form. 

 

Gaz

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Morning moisture will cause a flush of the bright surface rust on any metal surface, but it is quickly worn or wiped away over the course of the day. And the key word is in-service. All of the pieces shown in the photos are abandoned or captured and not undergoing routine maintenance.

 

The Tiger on fire was an abandoned vehicle that had been destroyed by U.S. engineers to prevent the Germans from recovering it later; it had been sitting in that field a few days already. The full sequence of photos showing the Tiger being prepped for detonation can be found online.

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Rusted exhausts make sense, and there's no substitute for powders. No rust-color paint can cut it.

 

Rusted tracks on German tanks are generally incorrect as they had a high manganese content that inhibited rust. Not saying they NEVER rusted, but it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over-represented in the hobby.

 

Yes, exposed metal will get a bit of an orange film on it in the mornings, but by mid-day, it has darkened or worn off entirely.

 

And the photos referenced all show wrecks that have sat out in the elements, so as the oral examiners might say "not proved."

Edited by Bill Cross
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