Hello all! I am in need some assistance (again) i am currently building Tamiyas Quad Gun Tractor, which I intend to paint as a commanders vehicle 8th army with 'mickey mouse' camoflauge, what colour would the underside be? I think the wheel arches would be desert yellow but would the differentials,tansfer case etc really be the same?

Off topic: i have problems uploading my pictures for the end of a campaign where would i post this question,

thanks to all

yeah thanks for your help
anyway painted it all matt black probably wrong but its a learning curve

Hi Clarkie,
Didn't see your post until today. I can't give a definitive answer on all details, but what I do know is that the differential casings, drive shafts, suspension components, chassis and axles would have been in the standard desert yellow.
Engine, sump and transfer casings were probably semi-gloss black.

thanks Jeff, it just looks wrong all black. I'm just going to check out your link as i have a particular intrest in the LRDG
cheers dude

Frame, structure, drive train and the like shuold all be the basic body colour _when the vehicle was manufactured_. Now, this is key as, depending upon when the vehicle was made it would have left the shops in Green (G3, I think), Light Stone (for the bulk of the North Africa Campaign) or fresh dogsh*t brown (SCC2) for vehicles sent to England in late 42 into 43 and then sent on to NA.

The exterior colour would have changed per the climate/regulations/combat needs, but the basic indersides and interior colours would remain the same as the day it was made. There are plenty of records of FATs built for NA and painted Light Stone at the factory in Canada, serving in Italy with the exterior in Light Mud and Black and the interior in Light Stone.

Remember, the Tamiya kit is of a No 12 cab Ford FAT and would not be seen in NA prior to (I think) early 1942 so choose your campaign and camo scheme accordingly. :-)

HTH

Paul

Yup, good points. Canada had several colours which were unique to vehicle built in their factories. I'm trying to clarify for myself what the colour standards were and how they were applied. Some recent issues of 'Military Modelling' have articles on the subject.
Here's one I found on the net;
http://milifax2003.tripod.com/Early_Colours_1.html
http://milifax2003.tripod.com/mtp46_Part_1.html

Clicking on '[Next]' at the bottom of each page lets you scroll through the pages, or go straight to '[Home]'

well thanks for the info, the MTP 46 camoflauge looks great might give that a bash

Well, MPT 46 is OK for time period, just, but wasn't used in North Africa, it's a more temperate scheme. In the Desert, plain Light Stone would be the way to go. For later in the campaign, like Tunisia, then Light Mud with a black or SCC1a disruptive pattern in the shape of the MPT46 pattern would be good.

I would doubt that many 8th army vehicles would have this pattern, though, as they had just come barrelling up the coast to the Mareth line and hadn't had much time to repaint anything. There are a lot of photos of 8th army vehicles in Tunisia in the plain light stone colour.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by a "commander's vehicle". Quads pulled guns and that's pretty much all they did. Troop, Battery and regimental commanders rode in jeeps, White Scout cars, Halftracks (later in the war) and 15 cwt trucks. Quads were not assigned to commanders of anything in the arty as they were too useful hauling guns around.

If you are looking for a vehicle for a commander, then in the battery area he would be in one of the above vehicles. If the battery commander was acting as FOO (Forward Observation Officer) then he would most likely be in a White Scout Car, a Universal Carrier or maybe a 15 cwt GS truck fitted for wireless.

Quads would be marked as belonging to specific guns in specific troops in the regiment. If you have something specific in mind, let me know and I can maybe help you out.

One thing to note, though, is that artillery vehicles had all the complicated markings of other Commonwealth vehicles, plus they had another, entirely different set of artillery-specific markings on top of that. Certainly, if yuo have a photo of a Quad marked for a battery or troop commander, then model it, but would be pretty close to a unique vehicle and not the norm.

Paul