Does anyone know the actual full-size dimension of the disc diameter? More than one size??

Thanks!!

R.E;

Hi!

From what little I've seen by way of period photos showing such schemes, the size of the discs differed between vehicles. This would be more so the case if the camo was painted on by the crew in the field, as with most German tanks - other than some factory camo jobs in late war... Which of course is what you are asking about!

Was there an official and approved disc-stencil being used? I wouldn't be surprised were someone to up and say "YES! Factory such and such used a stencil of... cm diam on all of their FEB 1945 production". Yeah. I kinda doubt that there actually was, but...

Want to model such a scheme? My suggestion is to 1) find some reasonably good pic showing such a disc camo job - and 2) try to scale or judge the proximate size of the discs used on that subject vehicle. That is, you could perhaps guess or estimate the width or height of some panel (from scaled plan diagrams of the type, if you have them - as in PanzerTracts or other references - or more generally by estimating sizes in pics based on comparisons to visible features and things - shoes, gas-cans, gun-barrels, etc.)

As to whether all on a given tank were the same size... That I would suspect would be a guarded "yes". Whether the crew added that camo or it was done in a factory, the discs were sprayed using a cut-out stencil of some sort, and that would have likely been the one stencil used on the whole vehicle. So, all discs probably the same size.

Having said that, I am certain someone will up and post a pic showing multiple sizes of stenciled spots on one tank!

There are, I think, some AM stencil templates out for painting these disc-based schemes. Some I have read about / seen posted on evilbay actually specify some types of tanks they would be applied to and at what scale the stencil is for. And the disc scheme does show up on one or another Dragon kit instructions - I think the D kits of the 15cm sIG on the 38(t) hull (2 versions, H and M), for example, onclude these as a possible paint-scheme. And if you can access the images of those instructions somewhere (they are posted in reviews, etc.), you can easily scale and etimate from them a possible disc-size to use on your build.

One thing I am pretty sure of... NOBODY is really likely to jump up and say something like "Nooooo! Those discs are way too big (or small or whatever)"! when you do your scheme!

Good Luck and hope to see what you end up with!

Bob

Here's a related thread on the subject :

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/134365&page=1

HTH

H.P.

Which vehicle, which factory, what dates?

Panther MAN, Panther MNH, Hetzer, Jagd Pz IV, and Sturm Tiger (if you call the "dog bones" disks) all had hard-edged ambush "light spots" formed with disk-shaped stencils (or hand-brushed on some Hetzers). There's even at least one example of a Berge Pz III with reverse stenciled disks on a field-applied cammo job.

Then there's the "DB-style" ambush pattern with sprayed or hand-painted "dots." Factory applied on Panther DB, Tiger II's, Jagd Tigers, and Pz IV J's and on some Sturm Tigers (that didn't have the "dog bone" hard-edged light spots), and field applied on several other types of AFV's (like some Brumbars, for example).

All of the disk patterns use a several different diameters of disk-shapes on each. The DB-style "dot" patterns vary in dot-size depending on the vehicle.

The variety of ambush patterns is quite large and varied between vehicle types, factories, and dates, and this doesn't even touch upon the many "field-applied one-off's."

Can you dial-in your subject a bit more?

http://www.scaleplasticandrail.com/kaboom/index.php/all-things-military-vehicle/135-scale/aftermarket-items/1364-135-german-disc-camouflage-system-from-uschi-van-der-rostenak-interactive

H.P.

The Uschi stencils do a pretty good job of replicating the MAN factory Panther camouflage, but the MNH pattern was different.

In fact, it appears that each factory had it's own unique variation, and some evidence that these unique variations changed themselves.

Here's a Panther that I built not too long ago using the Uschi stencils:

Armorama::Panther G Photo

Armorama::Panther G Build Blog

Thanks for the replies gentlemen! Merci Frenchy!

I was inspired by the images in the AKI 1945 Camo book, and it looks like my "answer" was elsewhere in the AKI catalog!