I'm building a DAK Panzer III ausf. J and need a little help. What would the base color of the panzer DAK version? On the exhaust, did the muffler rust as the exhaust would? I'm sure I will have more questions, as the build progresses.

Hi Matt, I believe panzer grey was the shipping colour for most dak vehicles the yellow was applied in theatre,re rusting a lot of the desert there is salt flats and we all know what that will do to metal.I lived in the Australian desert for a while in a place where it hadnt rained for twenty years,left a saw out over night next day it was light brown.

Matt N.;

Hi!

What color(s) for a DAK Pz III J?...

You actually have some choices and latitude! Most German tanks shipped to North Africa through 1941 arrived wearing their original "European" colors of Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 - and then received some variable repainting once on the docks on Africa. This repainting initially used Italian "sand" or available mud, etc. These were probably quite varied coats and probably many covered only upper portions of vehicles...

Starting from later 1941 and to early 1942, seems from various sources that panzers destined for Africa were repainted at the Euro depots before shipping using a "grunbraun" RAL 8000 over their original RAL 7021 base-coats. These depot paint-jobs were probably more consistent and generally fully-covered the tanks - but could wear off and reveal the original dunkelgrau beneath. Some may have left Europe wearing a sort of pre-applied desert camo scheme of a "khakigrau" RAL 7008 over that RAL 8000 coat. Others received some camo once in Afrika.

Late in the NA period - the base-coat shifted to a "gelbbraun" RAL 8020 with sometimes a camo applied using a "sandgrau" RAL 7027. I think most of this was done at the assembly or refurbishment plants in Europe.

From 1942, "factory-painted" tanks bound for Africa probably were not starting out with any dunkelgrau RAL 7021 under-coats - but may have gone direct from rot-oxide primer to the RAL 8000 or (later) RAL 8020 base-coats, so these later panzers would wear off to reveal rot-oxide and NOT dunkelgrau!

Like I said, looks like you have some choices, here! "When did your panzer ship over?" "Was it a Euro-depot paint-job or a Africa field job?" "Was it a Euro camo job or a post-arrival Africa field camo job?" "Is it a long time in operations veteran with worn paint?"

I'm sure there's actually more to the DAK and Africa paint puzzle, but maybe this is a start for some ideas!

Me? I look forward to doing a Pz III L or maybe J using the Euro -painted "tropen" scheme of 7008 blotched 1/3 over RAL 8000, but that's me!

Bob

"Starting from later 1941 and to early 1942, seems from various sources that panzers destined for Africa were repainted at the Euro depots before shipping using a "grunbraun" RAL 8000 over their original RAL 7021 base-coats."
I will be using MM Afrika Grunbraun '41.

Matt N.;

Sounds like a plan! It is gonna look GOOD! I'll be watching to see this come on up.

Bob

Would Verlinden's Pz. III F.L. or Tank Workshops' Pz. III interior be more accurate for a Pz. III ausf J early version?

Anyone?

A few teaser photos. Obviously, I'm not finished building the kit. However, all parts are only tacked together, for ease of painting.

That's a cute little tank you got there. Ordered myself the Cyber-hobby E/F-version from China, along with some Spade Ace tracks. Will probably be base painted with the same color as yours is in those pictures.

Kind of curious about your initial question in this thread, about rusting mufflers; did the Germans develop heat resistant paints later in the war to prevent rusting? Or did they all rust in the end?

The only issue I ran into with the kit is that the pe is too large by 1mm. This doesn't seem like much, until you try to place it. There is a slight overhang on all of it and I had to trim away plastic for some of it to fit.
From what I have seen, the mufflers/exhaust pipes were not painted on any of the German tanks. I was unsure if the climate in North Africa would be conducive to metal rusting.
My standing question is which interior to go with. I'm leaning toward Verlinden, as I have tried both manufacturers. Verlinden was quality resin. Well cast and easy to remove from the blocks. Tank Workshop was much more delicate and difficult to remove without damaging the part.

Morning dew is common in deserts, so it's very likely that the mufflers were rusting in Africa as well.

Haven't decided if I'm going for detail set on mine yet.

Paint is pretty much done. Couldn't resist adding some sort of camo pattern to it. I plan on covering a good deal of it with sandbag armor.

Great job Matt !
I like your camo pattern !

Will you add a crew ?

I will be using Master Box's Rommel and Tank Crew.

Did something stupid. Applied a lacquer over Future, before it set. Had to do some major repainting of the turret. I was able to salvage the decals. Let me know what you think.

Hi

before few months ago i hade a problem with gloss here are pictures;




[img]http://put.url.here/image.file[/img]

[img]http://put.url.here/image.file[/img]

Base was P.gray but after glos it was to dark annd very very bad in reality

and then i decide to paint over again

first with vallejo primer and than again with p.grey and on the top gark yellow

here are results;

[img]http://put.url.here/image.file[/img]

[img]http://put.url.here/image.file[/img]

[img]http://put.url.here/image.file[/img]

i hope it can help you

Regards

The photos I posted are after I repainted it.

My apologize

I missed few comments.

I saw later that is already done.

Regards

I've read that the differences between the base model and command version are the addition of aerials, a different radio and a dummy gun. Is this too simple of a modification to create a command version?

Hi Matt,
I see you have done a great paint job on your Panzer III.
Now if you want it to look different then paint the rooad wheels and return rollers white.
Why this was done nobody really knows, and they all can´t of come straight from a parade ground.
Here´s some pics for ya:
loading onto the ship in neaples


in Tripolis


in Capuzzo, note the lower spare wheel on the bottom foto



hope you like em.
Paul

Awesome photos Paul. I'll do that. I already intended to leave one hub in panzer gray or red oxide, to set them apart.

Paul: I may be taking this one to competition. What book did you refer to about the white road wheels? I believe I may need to show proof to the judges.

Hi Matt,
here you are:
Unter der gluehenden Sonne Afrikas
Soldaten des Afrika-Feldzuges 1941 bis 1943 in unbekannten bildern
from Alois Schlee
the pics come from pages 36, 37, 39 45.
If you google it, it comes up on Amazon and there you can see pages 36 and 37.
Hope you win something if you don´t come in first.
Paul

Thanks Paul.