I am building the Dragon Panther G with steel road wheels for the Duel II Campaign and have run into my first (but probably not last) color question. Early in the build one adds the engine intake fans to the sponsons. As I think these will be visible through the engine deck, I'll need to paint them. Can anyone tell me what color those assemblies should be?

Thanks for the help and I'm guessing there will be more questions as I go along. I'm no armor (and certainly no German) expert and I hope to you lean on you fine folks for info as I go along!

Michael

I have the same kit, and I've gotten to the point of painting the hull in the base color I've chosen (dunkelgelb). Trust me, particularly if you are using the photo etch screens on top of the intakes, you can absolutely not see the fans. I wouldn't at all worry about painting them, but that's just me.

That said, I don't have any advice regarding the fan color, or fan housing color, though I'm sure you will get good, accurate answers here. Good luck.

Photo evidence suggests that the majority of the inserts in the Dragon kit were dark (primer?). The fan assemblies may have been lighter (aluminium?) but it's not terribly clear in a mono image and it might just be down to angles relative to the light source. Somewhere I have some colour shots of one being dismantled for restoration but I need to go out shortly so can't check now.

That's something guys, thanks! Out of curiosity, could they have been primer red?

Michael

It's certainly a reasonable premise, given that most of the rest of the engine compartment was bare primer by that stage of the production run.

I was thinking red oxide like other Panzers were. What were the blades made from? They probably wouldn't be painter a color, but natural. I've seen PzIV blades in pics look white so I imagine that's just metal.

The large fan blades in the Tiger were unpainted because they were not ferrous.

David