Hi,

I am new to modelling armor and I was wondering about the tools carried by German armor. I was wondering specifically if they were painted the same color of the vehicle or if not, what color were they.

I am building Academy's Panzer IV ausf. H and was also wondering if anyone could recommend a better kit than Academy's. I have built numerous Tamiya cars and really like the quality of tamiya kits, but they are a little pricey, and was wondering if anyone other than tamiya makes a high quality late model panzer.

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Branden

Gday Branden and welcome!
Not modelling German armour myself I am no expert, but I'm sure more Deutch experts will post here and tell you that the Dragon DML Panzer releases are pretty good and getting better and better and include up to 3 variants and loads of extra parts...
Hope this helps
Brad

Branden:

I go with Dragon for WW2 German stuff. I think it has the best bang for your buck. Recently they have been getting better and better with aftermarket stuff being included in the kits.

If you want an early pz 4 DML is the better choice, If you want a late, then the new tool tamiya kits are better. As to color of the tools the debate still rages, so you could go either way.

I have been trying to figure out myself if the pioneer tools on AFV's were left natural or painted their base colour of the vehicle.

From what I have read it seems in most cases they were overpainted the same colour as the base colour.

But throw in replacments and all the other stuff with going into battle I would think that you have some latitude here.

I take a bit of artistic license and paint mine natural. I think it gives the eye a bit of interest and I found a great way to make them look really realistic too! On the same vein some people like to paint the extinguishers red even though I highly doubt that it was ever done.

In the end its up to you to decide what you wanna do. I just build for myself so I don't get to bent out of shape if things arn't accurate.

Hi Branden, I'm just completing that model myself. Interesting fact, the Academy PzIV s are reboxed old Tamiya dies, so you actually HAVE in effect made a Tamiya kit (albeit an old one), but for about a third the price Tamiya would charge! I'm doing it for the reason I'm trying a few things on this one (eg putty Zimmerit), so didn't want to spoil an expensive kit!
Like the guys say, Dragon is the best combination of detail against price. Tamiya are well made kits that go together well, but lack the multimedia parts you now get from Dragon.
As for the tools, I have always painted mine in natural colours, just to add contrast, since noone seems to know for sure whether they were painted or not. I suspect they were painted base colour at the factory, but it wore off with use, & replacements wouldn't match.

You can figure on the jack, jack block, extinguisher being tank color. The pioneer tools and tow hooks would be natural. The tow cables depend on if they have been used since the last paint job. This info comes from a German tank maintenence crewman vet who I met years ago at a reenactment. The maintenence guys would only remove the easy stuff when it was time to paint. Tow cables, jacks, heavy stuff,or hard to access items were just painted over. As a sidebar, gun cleaning rods usually were darkened by the solvents and burnt powder residue after cleaning the barrels.
Hope this helps!!

Ah there you go, straight from the horses mouth, & (for a change) just in time to prevent me painting the jack the wrong colour yet again! :-) :-) :-)

Ah ha!! I have been doing it right then!!

First time for everything.

:-)

Thanks a lot for all the great tips. Now I have another question. I am doing my build with some missing fenders so I am going to have to move the jack. I am thinking of either putting it on the other side of the tank or on the rear deck. Which would be more realistic? Also, were the straps that held the tools down affixed to specific parts of the tank or were they just bolt-ons?

Thanks and I look forward to your input.

Branden

The tools on German WW2 armor weren't held on by straps but by metal clamps. The Academy kit doesn't really do justice to the tools -- I can see where you think they are straps (US armor used a combination of leather straps and metal clips)

Nonetheless, the clamps were bolted onto the various surfaces (hull armor, fenders, etc.) at specific locations and not willy nilly. Crews needed to find their equipment in the dark often and trained or crewed many individual tanks. I'd say that "custom" placement would be ridiculous.

In your case where a fender was destroyed completly, a logical guess would be that the crew salvaged the valuable jack and stowed it someplace safe, probably securing it with some wire or something (it was heavy and the tank could jar rather violently going cross country -- easy to throw off loose gear)