I have decided to put one of these together while waiting for parts for my other projects. I have a question on how to do the periscopes for the commander and driver for this vehicle. Is it like the modern vehicles that change colors depending on the angle (like on the M-1 Abrams) and are real shinny, or is it more simple. The kit says to paint it silver but that just sounds ugly and wrong to me.

I love this kit so far. First the price can't be beat, especially for a Tamiya kit (I paid $12.50 for it new). The kit just seems like a real fun simple kit that will be fun to spruce up a bit. As is always the case, feel free to give me any more information you think I may need to build the kit correctly or avoid possible problems. Thanks all for help.

I believe the rainbow effect you describe on the modern periscopes is due to the anti-laser coating which refelcts the laser from laser rangefinders. The lasers we use for ranging are firly powerful and can blind you. It is considered a direct fire weapon. M41's periscopes are probably more like the ones on an M113 or M88/M60 series and just ballistic glass.

Andrew - the Bull Dog's periscopes aren't silver like the instructions suggest, nor anti-laser coated like modern equipment. There's a couple of ways to render them...

Fastest and neatest is to use black decal trim film. Cut it to size and apply it to the periscope face.

Pretty, but calling for a little more control, is to mixup some 5-minute epoxy. Drop a blob of Flat Black paint into the epoxy and mix it up. Apply the epoxy to the periscope face.

Gunnie