Hi,
I'm kind of stuck right now. Not a big deal, but exactly what colors should I paint the barrell cleaning rods for tanks and Flak? Were they made of wood? How about the head?
I can't find colored reference photos...

The other thing is the color of the shovels and axes and other tools: how do you paint that grayish-metallic color on 1/35 scale? They certainly don't look like shiny metallic objects - they rather have a dull, gray color with some metal hint in it.

I'd like to know about the cleaning rods as well.

As far as the shovels go, from what I have gleaned .. painting flat black or flat nato black, and then drybrush with a 'steel' coloured metallic paint is one method, another is to use graphite (powdered or a pencil) instead of drybrushing.

I haven't got the hang of it yet.. tho I do ok with the wooden handles.

Martyn

As far as the shovels go I like Tamiya Nato black as it seems to have a gray tint to it and then some pencil around the edges. For the cleaning rod I have seen a lot of modelers go with the hull color and/or camo. I usually go with the hull color since I have always heard the they came from the factory with the tools and in a rush they were sprayed over with the hull color. In the field crews often covered them with camo paint rather than removing them so camo would make sense as well. I have seen people put a metallic color on the ends where the rods were joined together. I don't know if there really is a definate answer and don't take this as gospel but most of the models I've seen that is how they are depicted.