Hi,

I've been searching all of my references to find details of the "factory fresh" appearance of the Praga engines used in the 35(t) and 38(t) derivatives. They don't seem to be as well documented as the typical appearance of, say, Maybach engines, and CMK's engine sets contain suggestions that seem, well, not necessarily wrong, but they make me want to check references.

On a related note, I'm going to assume that the Pz 35(t) retained the original pre-war Czech painting for the interior, with the possible exception of the fighting compartment (esp in the artillery tractor) being repainted to German standards. I've got a rough idea of the colors for the fighting compartment in the vehicle pre-war, I've no clue as to what the engine compartments were painted in. I'm guessing that even in German service, it's unlikely that this would have been changed. I feel pretty safe using standard German colors for later 38(t)s, and Marders and suchlike - basically anything built after the German invasion.

Anybody know? Even rough colors is a help. I've seen some photos of a pretty clean post-war 38(t) engine in situ, but the engine compartment had been painted in post-war Czech standard colors, while the engine itself had some *very* shiny bits that looked like they were possibly aluminum replacements, and thus not representative of the real vehicles.

Al

I'm building a Praga RND right now, with some decent photo references, and underneath the grime the engine cylinders and block appear to be primer red, with some semigloss black or dark green fixtures

In Osprey's Modeling the Hetzer, the author depicted the engine as black, I believe this is probably incorrect.
The engine compartment was primer red overall in the 38t and the Hetzer, although in early 38ts the interiors of the engine doors were probably dark green, later third reich versions were probably grey

In addition, the cylinder covers look to be semi-gloss or flat black. Otherwise the engine is overall primer red