Hello all !

I've got a beautiful early hetzer by DML, still waiting in it's box.
Now, I'm looking for inspiration for a dio.
Do you know where and when the early hetzers were used ? Also, what were the paint schemes used during these battles ?

They were first used in July of 1944 according to the Encyclopedia of German tanks. I think that most of ther early ones were just painted a plain dunkelgelb. The late versions had the really interesting camo with a the "creme" coloured or white squiggly line running throughout it. However in Panzer Colors I, there's a pic of a knocked out Hetzer with an awesome ambush scheme handpainted. This is accompanied by a color profile which shows the "perforated" toolbox characteristic of the early hetzer. So if you're willing to believe the color profile then go ahead and do that one. I myself, plan on doing that scheme on my DML early version when I get around to it. If you don't have the book and if interested, I could probably scan in it and email it to you.

[quote][If you don't have the book and if interested, I could probably scan in it and email it to you.
/quote]

Well....actually not the whole book, but just the 2 pics....

:-)

Most early Hetzers were sent to the training schools and these were usually just plain dark yellow...There are also picture of them during the Warsaw uprising and they seem to have been a camo added to these vehicles ...If you want the best info on all the different hetzers you should try and pick up the book from MBI called ...Hetzer (of course) They do have a color plate of an early with wide dark green lines sprayed over the dark yellow base.
There is also a picture of rows of captured vehicles in Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1945 and you can see both early and late hetzers parked side by side all in the 3 color camo .. Hope this helps a bit..

Richard