Hi,
Just dug out my old Emhar Mk.IV tadpole from my stash and was thinking of building it before I tackle the Takom Female. It's an oldie so I reckon it's a good Guinea pig, as well as an interesting looking tank. It's also been collecting dust since I bought it in the late 90's. About time it got built.
But question is what colour to paint it. I would have guessed a khaki green, but the instructions say Battleship Grey, giving FS16118 as the recommended colour.
Does that make sense for a prototype tank back then?
I remember using Humbrol 86 on their 1/76 tanks I built around the same time I bought that one.

Thanks

Sounds great, I've built several Mark IVs, and Emhars was my first several years ago. But be prepared for poor fit, especially of the guns, sponsons and around the back, and there are a lot of innacuracies. The tracks are really lacking too. I think you'll find it difficult to display your Emhar kit next to the Takom or Tamiya offerings. The color formthe prototype might have been battleship gray, but most others were a "khaki green" color, which is a cross between a tannish brown with a tinge of green.
VR, Russ

Oh yeah, I'm more interested in building it and trying some different ideas to show thick mud caked on the tracks. The Takom kit is light years ahead the old Emhar and shows how far we've come. It's great we have a choice of modern kits these days.
I don't remember having any fit issues with the 1/76 kits, but maybe they were tooled later than their 1/35 versions? I remember the tracks being resistant to every glue I had and had to resort to stapling them together!

I'll go with a dark grey and see how it looks.
Thanks

A prototype may indeed been gray. It is also believed that originally, the Mk ! tanks were in have an Admiralty Grey color, but later, a complex disruptive camouflage scheme was substituted, until experience showed that the dirt thrown by the tracks soon covered it in filth.

Among modelers, the most common belief (at the moment) is that Mk IV and V tanks were an earth brown color, but that the Whippet, intended for breakthroughs to the "green beyond,' may have been a medium green. If these color references are maddeningly vague, there's a reason. The British Army didn't start to issue color specifications until the 1930's. Until then, commercial paints were used, and manuals simply specified that equipment was to be paint in the "Service Colour," meaning whatever paint was issued.

Best reference, in the absence of color photos, may be period paintings by war artists.
For articles on the Great War, http://www.landships.info/landships/tank_articles.html#
has some archived web articles on various tanks. Missing-Lynx also has a World War One forum with plenty of research. And of course, Osprey has books on British tanks as well.

The best source I've found for the Mark IV is the Hayne's guide on the Mark IV tank. It's comprehensive, has many period images, and has a discussion of color. There are are also photos of the un-restored paint scheme on the Belgian Military Museum's Mark IV, which has some good color photos of an earth brown/Khaki green color. If you can find a copy, its worth the money if you intend on building Takom or Tamiya's kits, but frankly, I wouldn't buy it for just the Emhar kit (because you'll be disappointed in how bad that kit really is after reading the Hayne's guide).
VR, Russ

Thanks I have a couple of different khaki greens and browns in my paint drawers. Leaning towards Humbrol 26 at the moment.

I picked up Takoms Female kit early last week and it's a really impressive thing. My lhs was having a sale to get some of the more expensive kits off their shelves to restock in time for Christmas, so grabbed it for good price. Also picked up Dragons Pz III Trop (old boxing with magic tracks) and Italeris LVT A4 and Autoblinda AB40. Had my eyes on those four for a while, so took the opportunity while they had them at a reduced price. I'll look into getting the Haynes book. A discount bookstore in the UK frequently has their reference books in stock so should be able to find one easily. Already have a few already and they are worth it.

I made a start on the Emhar last night and I think it might be a struggle. The gun barrel are total junk. I remember now why I put it away so many years ago. That and being disappointed with finding out it was a prototype that never saw service. I think I was sold on the boxart.

Like I said it's just going to be a Guinea pig build so not too fussed if it doesn't go quite to plan, but I'll do my best with it. Pretty sure I have a tin of Humbrol Dark Admirality grey that I'll use for it.

Thanks for help and advice.

The tadpole was only a prototype, and al the photos of it I've seen show it in a "machinery grey" with the outline of a standard Mk IV tail painted on as a white line for reference. A bunch of tails were sent to France but weren't installed. You could do a "what if?" model as it might have been fielded - by then they were mostly apparently a khaki colour with lots of mud staining so it could be a big weathering test-bed for all those exotic techniques you are too cautious to experiment with on a good model!

It's a possibility and I had thought about doing a whif build.
The story could be that a couple of conversions were completed and tested unsatisfactorily, but in the rush to get reinforcements out one was sent into action.

Thr instructions do have a grainy photo of a tank depot with stacks of tadpole tails piled up, so we know that they made it to France.

For now I'm going to persevere with it and see how it turns out.
Not going to waste more time than necessary with it as I have Hobbyboss's St Chamonds and Mengs Whippet and FT-17, along with Takoms Female that are more deserving of attention.
We've never had it so good with the quality of these kits now.