King Tiger (1 Viewer)

[unglesbeemj]

The brown camoflage on the paint scheme for the newer King Tiger looks to be the wrong shade of brown....That's how it seems to my eye...Color looks off...I was exspecting better on this tank....Not terrible at all but falls a bit short for me

Vezzolf, try not to get too hung up on color accuracy (like I do), it can drive you nuts! Even though the colors used by the Germans were standardized, there were still differences in colors as a result of the way the paint was mixed and applied in the field. Colors also had a tendency to fade or darken with age.

Using original photographs to determine color also introduces a great deal of variables, lighting, film type, etc, and especially black and white photographs, making it impossible to determine anything with any certainty. Even when looking at preserved AFVs today, colors have been altered during storage and further aging.

The only way to be 100% sure of what Dunkelgelb RAL 7028, Olivgrun RAL 6003, and Rotbraun RAL 8017 actually looked like would be for you to have access to the tank with its original paint job, stored away from air, light and heat for the past 70 years!

As a result, K&C, like any other serious modeller out there, must exercise a bit of creative interpretation on their AFV colors. Even considering the RAL and paint comparision charts, all of the colors used on models today are questionable, as we really just don't know. Personally, I think BBG016 is a great tanks, imo one of K&C's best ever, for all of the points made here by others.

Just for fun, here is a photo of the real thing, restored and painted by the Germans themselves - yet another interpretation of how this great beast may have appeared on the battlefield.

Mike

 

[jbonzo1]

Nice pics, Duke. I have the two Porsche turret models... nice for their age. I will probably get the newer one, however for such a battle-damaged tank it seems a bit too "clean". Still like it, though.

 

[fmethorst]

While we don't have a preserved tank to evaluate from a color perspective. there are alternatives. There are many smaller pieces of equipment that have been preserved quite well. One piece of equipment that I believe is quite instructive in this discussion is the Stahlhelm. There a many examples of helmets painted with colors that bear a striking resemblance to the offical RAL colors. It stands to reason that if you wanted to camouflage your helmet what paints are likely to be readily available? Vehicle paints.

While it is true the regulations were changed on October 31 1944 to leave vehicles with a base coat of RAL8012 Oxirot (primer) and apply camouflage patterns over top this wouldn't have applied to all the vehicles produced in August, September, October. In addition factories did not always follow the regulations dependant on available stocks.

As for the hue and shade being variable due to field application. While true for the paint applied by the maintenance units the paint applied at the factories was much closer to specification (there would have still been variance from the manufacturer due to shortages etc.). The Tiger II K&C has chosen to depict has a factory applied paint scheme so the field variance is not applicable.

 

[Mitch]

You also have to remember the crews in the field also had variations in the way they wanted to paint their vehicles and, with what paint they had available. I have seen some quick and almost bizarre paint schemes on german vehicles during Kursk, Leningrad and, Kharkov and Normandy.

I have also seen pics of late war german panthers and some TigerII in Hungary in grey with terrible whitewash covering, must have been done in three minutes and with a trembling hand.

I think regardless of regulations some variation in colour schemes used by hard pressed German troops is a good thing not only for modellers but also manufacturers when they decide what colours to paint AFV's. I believe that not all tanks came ready painted for troops from the factory and, there are plenty of 'in field' pics showing crews painting their tanks. There is also a plethora of documentation that some did not bother to paint at all.

Its a good point about the loss of colour due to battle and general fading that is why nobody has cracked the german tank colours in such a manner as to please all the painters of german AFV's. Everyone I know has their own way to achieve the colour they believe they want.

BBG16 is certainly the best of the Tiger II's but, I kinda like the naivety of some of the early K&C which, was my point earlier.

Good discussion though
Mitch

 

[HAWKEYE]

how can anybody really complain about the latest king tiger. the scale and paint are prtetty darn good. as for the early porsche tigers i really liked the brown camo one.