Hello everyone, I am currently building a late Tiger 1 with the mud skirts lost in battle. I am wondering what color was behind them? Was it just the dark yellow...or a primer red color?

What I plan on doing is tape of the area where the guards were when I paint the camo pattern...but I do not know what color to paint the taped off area.

Thank you in advance,
Eric

This is an interesting question. I was wondering the same thing when I built a Tamiya Sturmtiger last summer. My Sturmtiger had a Zimmeritt coating though, and I did some in depth research, looking at a bunch of photos and reading, both on line and in texts. I learned the fenders were placed on the vehicle (Sturmtiger) after applying the Zimmerit and a base coat of paint. Subsequent colors were then applied after the fenders were in place. Given this information,it stands to reason that if Zimmerrit is used, the area under the fenders would likely be whatever the base color was (usually the Panzer Yellow or Yellow-Ochre color used late in the war). But, if no Zimmeritt was used, I think it depends on-- 1) The factory practices where the vehicle was manufactured, 2) the timeframe it was manufactured ( which accounts for shortcuts and paint supplies available at the time). So, you may want to have a specific timeframe of manufacturer in mind, and do a little in depth research
VR, Russ

This is a page I found when doing research for my Jagdtiger build. You can note in some of the colourized and black and white photos that there is a definite colour shift where the side skirts would attach.

You can extrapolate that the Tiger 1 MAY be the same...
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=138065&start=45

Here is a bunch of Tiger I photos, some showing missing or damaged skirts and what's behind them. Too many photos to post here but you can look thru and find what you are looking for.

https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/germany/tanks-2-3/tiger-panzer/
https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/germany/tanks-2-3/tiger/
https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/germany/tanks-2-3/tiger-tank/
https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/germany/tanks-2-3/tiger1tank/

Great info guys, thank you!!

I beleieve the answer is yes. I know that is not very specific but both ways happened. I recently saw a Sturmtiger photo that had the mud skirts off and it was repainted at rebuild with the skirts off the area under the skirts had a differnt cammoflauge than above the skirts. I thought that was pretty cool.

Suggestion:

Look for photos of the Tiger I's and Tiger II's in rail transit. They normally had to have their wide tracks replaced with narrow travel tracks and the fenders had to be removed in order to fit on the railcars.

The following thread has more than a few photos:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/262280

When I pose a model with a fender missing I can never resist the urge to use a shader to make the area that would have been under the fender darker and dirtier but the above thread appears to show that effect to be over done.