Simply question really...when painting camo schemes, do you all leave the turret in place on the hull or paint each separately? If separate, how do you align the camo scheme? I would worry that the paint would "glue" the two together if I painted the hull with the turret on it but I'm scratching my head as to how to align the camo scheme if I paint separately.

Hi Mike, how's it going? I have done it both ways, but I have found when using my airbrush the turret getting stuck is no problem at all. I think you would have to really be laying the paint on thick for that to happen. Keep in mind not all of the schemes lined up just so. There is a well known sequence of pics of a Tiger II getting it's camo paint and the turret is turned almost 90 degrees. So it could depend on just what scheme your planning on.

Cheers,
Mike

Mike you could do it either way. I personally put my turret on, figure out what colors are going to go where and then remove the turret and paint them seperately. I have found that if you leave the turret on, and spray, lets say a brown over your green, you tend to get a brownish fog effect around the turret bottom and on the hull as well. Doing this requires touch up with the green later. By leaving them seperated, you can avoid this. Just my .02 worth. "Q"

Turret off, line up the cammo by eye. But then I paint with a brush, so on most tank models the turret would move around as I move the model so I'd have to kepp realligning it anyway!

Hmm. That's actually an interesting question - because it's quite a while since I've painted a turreted vehicle! But when I think about it I'm pretty sure I left the turret on - I wanted the camo to line up, since the real vehicle would have been painted this way. But of course, when you do this, if you then turn the turret you'll have a nicely defined shape on the hull top! So maybe I'm wrong to do this!?

I usually don't even bother, really... The way I see it, trees and grass don't follow any set pattern aside from "Leafy end UP", so there's not too much need for Camo to follow a strict pattern either.

According to German manuals from the time of WW2 the camo has to blend in the sharp definitions of the AFV. That meens that generally you have to paint it with the turret facing forward. That does not meen it was always done that way. The base colour You can paint with the turret off, for the camo I suggest you set it in place. There's little chance of it getting stuck if you just paint the addditional colours.

I start with the turret on,do the out line of the camo so it lines up on the hull and turret.I then remove the turret and finish filling in the pattern.I do it this way because I use the turret hole to put my fingers in to hold the kit.(I know it's doing things the hard way )

Using colored pencils you can lightly outline your camo pattern over the base coat with the appropriate colored pencil. Then remove the turret and paint each part separatly. When turret and hull are joined again the pattern should more or less match.