Does anyone know what colour the actual indicators of the old style "pop-up" indicators were on Wehrmacht vehicles? I'm currently painting my Tamiya/Italeri SdKfz 231 and I know that a thin sliver of colour should be visible. When I was a kid, our neighbours had an OLD V.W. Bug and the pop-ups on that; though heavily faded to a yellowish shade; were orange. Does anyone know if they were the same during the war please?

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Thanks Robin; I tried to but couldn't.

Here are some WW2 German "trafficators" ("winker" in German) :







Another one usually fitted to Opel Blitz trucks



H.P.

Do keep in mind a couple of things concerning these "winkers":

Mostly, they did fold into their metal casings completely - so it was extremely unlikely to see the orange celluloid part when closed up. So, unless you have a kit with separate winker arms and cases, probably no orange, as most kit parts have these completely closed.

And 2), the military winkers were usually painted to match the color of the vehicle - so winker-arms (speaking here of the exposed / seen portion of the actual metal frame around that orange panel or box of the movable winker piece) on a dunkelgelb truck would be painted dunkelgelb to match the box color. The usually-hidden rest of the winker-arm frame would be black. No chrome or silver accents on those war-time winkers!

My suggestion is to score in the winker "outside-facing strip" into the winker-box (if it doesn't already exist on the part) and do a black pin-wash to pick that piece out so its visible on the side of the winker box. You can also, to pretty nice effect, I think, make a winker-arm standing out from its box and indicating for a turn - doing that allows one to put on this little bit of "non-military" color on the build. Of course, this tiny framed orange flag will be the first bit to get wanged off and lost as you handle the build! Been there, done that! But it really does look cool and pretty easy to do.

Cheers! Bob

Many thanks Frenchy; as I suspected then; orange.

Thanks Bob; I might still add a thin sliver, I dunno'; just for the sake of a bit of colour; we'll see. I COULD claim it was damaged and wouldn't fully retract.....

These indicators were powered by an electro-magnetic arrangement. Over a period of time they would lose their magnetism and instead of protruding fully, would hang limply half out and they wouldn't return fully either. You used to this quite a lot on old cars when I was a kid. You might like to reproduce this on an old well worn vehicle.

There's a lot of interesting history behind the "trafficator" semaphore turn-indicator. By WWII, almost all were indeed "electromagnetic" in actuation - using the Boisson linear solenoid to raise the illuminated flag. Earlier models were cable-operated... The solenoid was a one-way device - it raised the flag when powered by literally flipping the "on" switch (most turn-signal switches were actually little toggle switches mounted on the dash-board). When turned off, the flag simply dropped by gravity back into its box. My old 1955 VW had these things - what some folks of the time humorously called "macht-nichts sticks", because, yes, they sometimes simply hung up and didn't drop back completely into the box... Or, conversely, didn't bother "rising to the occasion" when the switch lever was operated. Dirt and ice in the box were good for keeping the arm from fully-dropping and hiding therein.

Perhaps, for the adventuresome modeler, one could actually have a winker arm partially-extended by gravity on the down-side of a tilted truck or car - winkers could indeed swing out freely in sharp turns and when the vehicle was well-tilted. IF one is seeking a truly-accurate depiction, a "level" vehicle seldom ever exhibited a partially-extended arm - it COULD of course get damaged and jam in any position or get jammed by mud and ice, but the most-common failure of the device was always its solenoid-actuation - it simply remained down in its box when the driver wanted it up. But yes, a little exposure of a "failed" or jammed arm would be a neat focal element with a bit of color. I've long thought that a winter dio could have a winker ice-jammed - probably happened fairly frequently... My old 'dub's winkers routinely jammed up in Chicago winters!

Cheers! Bob

I remember a few cars like that when I was a kid too. Plus, we'd actually pull them out ourselves too; before getting a clip 'round the ear!

Thanks Bob; I agree with you. My 231 is all over grey so I just thought a tiny slice of colour to catch the eye might be O.K. I'm no rivet counter, and these things CAN be open to a degree of interpretation and artistic licence after all.