The simpler question first: is there ANY evidence for the late war "emergency" use of Panzer Gray as per Jentz, etc.?

Along those lines, I've never seen evidence for the use of mimic white stripes and markings ala the Red Army tanks as advanced by Steve Zaloga in one of his old books. Are any photographs, documents or anecdotes available that support this contention?

Now, about the Schmalturm: the famous photo of the Schmalturm with the camouflage finish at first had me thinking that it was delivered to Daimler-Benz as such.

Then it occurred to me that the camo generally follows the Daimler-Benz pattern seen on Panther Gs.

What also seems apparent is that there seem to be vague outlines of the pattern which were then filled in with the paint sprayer.

To this point, I think that as modelers, it might behoove us to spray with a narrower aperture, which would duplicate the actual process of painting rather than what appears to be something sprayed from 20 or so scale feet away.

To that, I am thinking of the widely reproduced photo of a field crew spraying a Tiger II. Note that the spraying is close up and maybe a bit wider than a present-day rattle can.

Now I will freely admit I am by no means an expert on German camo, but one thing I notice is that some Panther turrets often seem to have camo patterns that are arranged roughly horizontally, which suggests to me that the late war turrets are sprayed with camo prior to being placed on a chassis (which would be easiest for factory workers), which often seem to have patterns arranged in a more vertical fashion (which would also be easiest for factory workers).

Returning to the Schmalturm, so what does this mean? Was it already on a chassis when retrieved and photographed, or not?

Also, I mentioned this long ago, but there is obviously a spare wheel bracket on the starboard side which kits do not include.

Finally, the rangefinder bulges on the sides of the turrets came with plugs. You can see this in photos and the camo turret has one removed from the aperture and placed on the turret roof, which one resin kit mistakenly reproduced as part of their conversion kit.

Hello George,
Not being an expert, my thoughts are below;




No, as far as I know. Some vehicles in tank schools could have kept their grey paint and put in service at the end of the war, perhaps.




Not that I know




Keep in mind that a spraygun is not an airbrush, it oversprays a lot even being quite close to the target...

When you want a hard edge and you don't want to mask, you have to thin the paint more, lower the pressure and spray about a half inch from the plastic. Now you are much more in scale with the actual distance the crews painted at.

Hi George,

Check out "How to paint Tiger Tanks" on Youtube a short video by the Tank Museum which while not specific to your query it does provide some interesting insights.

Can you cite the book or article where Jentz says this?




The orders instructing US and Soviet troops about the ID markings give that as a reason for changing from the white stripe to a white roof triangle. I don't think there are any photos of such vehicles. It's like Zimmerit: The Allies didn't have magnetic mines but the Germans went to all that effort because they thought they did or would.

KL