Grey JagdTigers ?

[MichaelC]

Hi all,

Decades ago when I was in my teens I was heavily into 1/72 and 1/76 wargames (i.e. World Of Tanks - 1980 style) and one of the biggest (it was 1/76 unfortunately but would have been if it was 1/72) and baddest would be the JagdTiger. Fujimi is the only one I believe that makes it at that time and even now, when you say JT what comes to my mind is the grey colour JT on their cover box art:

187217-13047.jpg (39.06 KiB) Viewed 2880 times

I know that this is not exactly Tamiya box art, but one would think that there must be some historical basis. Of course now that I am older but not necessarily wiser, I don't remember seeing anything newer than the Panther that has factory grey, not King Tigers and definitely not JT, not to mention the almost "baby powder blue" colour on the box art.

If anyone can shed any light on this colour scheme or have information on the factory fresh JT base colour that would be much appreciated. My guess right now is the standard dark yellow or oxide red if it is not painted.

P.S. Just in case I am not being clear, I am seriously considering painting a JT grey........

MichaelC

[billpe]

Its a big topic to cover but an all over grey JT is very unlikely. The Japanese modelling companies have a penchant for doing this a little odd - take all the E series tanks they just made up like the E100 Krokodil. The first error on the box is the factory name, they weren't built by Henschel.

The tank on the box is covered with zimmerit so there are three potential options: 1) Dunkelgelb or 2) Ambush or Hinterhalt (some Zimmerit coated JTs were definitely painted this way) 3) Red primer plus olive green and red/brown and/or dunkelgelb. It depends on the date, around the time zimmerit is cancelled there are some changes to the paint colours by OKH. What I don't know is if some, or all JTs had either factory had a specific scheme painted on them or a basic primer coat and then done in the field, I'm no expert on this specific tank. While there were generic paint 'rules' some factories did things there own way within the confines of these and some just delivered in whatever they were meant to and let the maintenance sections deal with the paint problem.
It could be like the Panther, which at a certain date were delivered by certain factories in very specific schemes meaning all tanks from those factories looked identical. Its possible grey was used on the very last examples built but you'd need to do some more research into this specific tank.

I checked the book on 653 who used JTs and there is no mention of repainting them at all - in fact no mention is given to paint unlike the where they discuss other vehicles they use. I'm no expert on the Jadgtiger though so double checking with a Jentz and Doyle publication for specifics might be worth it.

[tanks_for_the_memory]

The Bovington Jagdtiger used to be painted grey - and possibly still is. Perhaps that was their inspiration? But I agree that it's very unlikely to have been authentic. Besides isn't it rather a boring scheme!

[jukebox]

Hi MichaelC,

Had a look in my reference on Jagdtigers by Andrew Davey, Jagdtiger The Most Powerful Armoured Fighting Vehicle of World War II, volume 1 Technical History says new vehicles were sprayed in basic sand colour after the application of Zimmerit on top of red oxide primer, but no more mention of colour schemes after that so I guess field application of camouflage? Interestingly it goes on to say that indications are only eight vehicles were given the Zimmerit coating and these were all with the Porsche suspension. The two volumes, Technical History and Operational History are on a par with the Jentz & Doyle books and are from the same publisher, Schiffer Military History, I can recommend them for anyone building a Jagdtiger (I'm waiting for IMEX to release their rumoured 1/16 metal hull version later this year! )

The Bovington Jagdtiger is still a strange shade of grey, maybe someone got confused looking at B&W photos before they painted it?

[billpe]

The grey and yellow JT at Bovington is still like that I think. Its a weird example, its the Porsche suspension prototype and was repainted at least once since being at the museum.

[Woz]

I think that most people think of German tanks being Grey (look and the German armour in World of Tanks). Just like all Allied tanks are green.

Until recently even museums weren't too bothered about getting the colours right.


PS why is the spellchecker trying to get me to write in American, it's "COLOUR". Just don't get me started on "Centre"

[MichaelC]

Thanks guys for all the great info. I guess the short answer to the question of whether any JT has been painted grey factory fresh is not likely. I think when the factory were painting them grey it is on top of the oxide red primer, and when air superiority is a given (Panzer I-V were all grey in the early years of the war) so you don't have to worry about camo at all.

It would be safe to assummed that factories at that point won't too worry about painting the tanks and focus more on actually getting them out to the front line. I guess Dunkelgelb it is until I figure out if I want to try a tri-colour ambush scheme or some tri-colour band scheme.

MichaelC.

[ALPHA]

One exception to the rule





HAPPY TANKING


ALPHA

[MichaelC]

ALPHA,

That's red oxide primer (kinda) ! I thought it would be baby blue like the box art in the series...........

MichaelC

[ALPHA]

ALPHA,

That's red oxide primer (kinda) ! I thought it would be baby blue like the box art in the series...........

MichaelC

...You're right Micheal...These color scheme issues are mind boggling aren't they... But I guess that's what adds the challenge to a historical build
Thanks for letting me get the GIRLS UND PANZER in there lol...

Happy Tanking Sir

ALPHA