RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

the first big scale tank i did was my H/L tiger 1 which i was very happy with so i put it on an Armour forum, some guys picked up on a couple of mistakes i made which was fine and i duly corrected the mistakes, but then some rivet-counter comes on and stated that the color of my Das Reich tiger was the wrong shade of yellow??? whats a guy supposed to do! keep the corrections info to the basics and if people want more info then just let them ask i,m sure it can be provided, but to throw a crap load of info at a beginner ( in my opinion ) isn't very constructive i suppose you could call it information overload, keep it simple to start with and we can build on that..........

Hello Oz. My first (and still only) step into the larger scale tanks was also the HL Tiger I. I had been aware of the Tamiya line some time earlier but their pricing always made the kits more of a dream than a reality. I found my grey non-smoker HL Tiger at a local show and for the $70.00 Cdn could not pass it up. I was happier than  pig in a truffle field for months with it right out of the box, but slowly got quite irritated by the excessive speed and handling qualities of the original kit so started researching the web for information on the HL equipment and the real Tiger I. I guess I sort of grew into wanting to "make it better". The first rework was adding in the smoker package and metal gear boxes to make it start behaving more like the real thing and the rest is still developing as I can find the time.

This forum is a microsample of the real world. Lots of people with different goals and personalities. Pleasing everyone here is just as difficult as pleasing the world at large. We will never find a simple solution for all the problems, I think we just need to add as many tools to the tool box as we can, so that hopefully we can built enough of a selection to help as many as possible who have reached the point where they are openly looking for assistance. That may mean reworking our site from time to time as we find areas to improve upon. Gathering up correction info into one location would be very helpful.

If it's any consolation, the issue being discussed here is not unique to R/C Tanks by a long shot. I have been involved with real MV restorations since the mid-1970's and have seen the same circumstances arise. You run a complete range from the 'slap-it-together and have fun types to the anal retentive bolt counters and everything in between. You did, however, point out a rather universal irritant...the correct paint freak. Some people just don't seem to get it. Yes, every military organization issued colour standards to be met. And these were met where ever possible by the units in the field. But we are talking wartime here. Supplies at all levels of the production and delivery processes were subject to change without notice and units frequently had to make do in the field with what was available to them in any form. Some people just don't seem to grasp that concept in today's world. It would not be surprising at all to see colour variations among any number of vehicles in any sized army unit anywhere during the war. Grrr to those chest thumpers who choose to challenge that point...

Anyway, my better half is up and about now...I best behave!

Regards,


David

David your last statement is so true
lucky enough to be involved in the first gulf war and we were in such a rush to go snatch landys and anything green was painted desert yellow the first batch of too the paint shop came out lovely
the next batch was hurried through and tyres and even windscreens got painted (no detailing there )

then you get an FV thats been in country for 6months and weathering wow doors been replaced from stores still green and stuff like that
so my point is if you want to represent a factory fresh vehicle good go for it or a battle worn and torn vehicle the same applies have fun
and as to rivet counting blah all those guys are people that think they now it all and really dont yes give them credit were its due as they do there research and are informative from that
but when someone remarks on individual paint/camo schemes it all gets hazy as who really knows what colour a tiger really was from paint cards or the like 60 years old or photos that are black and white
or even a paint chip from a real tank sat in a field/parking lot of a museum for the same 60 odd years

ever heard of paint fade lol
plus the fact that crews painted camo on there tanks either by spray gun if they were lucky enough to have that equipment if not a mop and bucket and river water, engine oil,petrol,diesil or mud mixed to the paint as thinners and who really knows what that did too the colour

so again my point do what you like and if someone tells you to do it another colour then dont unless you want to
as all we are doing is making a "representation" of what we believe is correct

that said and of my soapbox a thread/sticky about common corrections improvements would be a good idea 

people have been arguing about the true shade of RAL7028 Dunkelgeld for 65 years now the reality is there where 6 official shades add to that batch variations pigment shortages and individual factory interpretations and you will have dozens of shades, German paint was supplied in paste form and had to be mixed into a paint form this was done with all manner of things ranging from urine, petrol, old engine oil ETC this would alter the shade even further so you could end up with hundreds of shades even factory finished tanks would have been in dozens of shades so to say that your tank was the wrong shade is wrong in it's self, I'm sure this was a statement by a person less informed as opposed to a rivet-counter

ok, ill make the test boards, to see how it goes ,
ill put it in builds and mods ...

cheers,

Matt

i do like accurate tank details , thats just the way i am ,but alot of people on here are just into the hobbie of rc tanking and thats fine with me ,if someone wants help or pointing in the right direction no problem , but im not here to pick holes in someones pride and joy, thats why if they put on their post comments welcome good or bad then i will say that i would do such and such, but its down to them 
regards, ice
ps yes i know ive got the wrong tracks on my ww2 pershing ,but i cant justify £130 for the t81s yet   

[ICE]monkey wrote: ps yes i know ive got the wrong tracks on my ww2 pershing ,but i cant justify £130 for the t81s yet   

I think this is an important point - there are some guys here who only have a tank or 2 and are willing to spend time and $$$ to make it right, there are others here doing the best thay can with limited budgets, and there are guys like me with large collections who want to do something that 'looks about right' without going out and buying every last widget to make their tank accurate. What seems a reasonable effort or expense in the name of accuracy to one person, might not be to the next...

Just my $0.02 worth...
Mart

Some food for thought--   what ever it's worth----OH GOD here he goes again---

Was reading all the comments here,interesting thoughts.I agree with parts of some and most of some.
I think sometimes we all need to to step back and ask ourselves what makes a forum fun and active and growing with a continual ammount of new people joining up.What will the new guy or gal see here that will make them want to get into tanking or other "hobby here" and buy their first model and have the desire to ask questions or start posting about their model.

For me I have been on the tank forums for over two years now.When I first went on a forum (OK we all know I started on RCU--lets get that out of the way ) I was building and flying model planes and building a train layout.I stumbled on the tank forum by accident and started looking around and asking a few questions after I had allready ordered my first (2-NON S&S TANKS ).I did not know anything about the scale sizes,what made them work,and could not even tell the difference between a Patton or a Tiger.To me they were just tanks----"And in a lot of ways that still applies today"--They are just fun to play around with,to kind of rebuild internally on some,And have even painted a couple to suit my own taste.I just like to have them and injoy just looking at them,even setting on a shelf as most of them just do after I'm done doing what ever I did to them if anything.

We all started with the first one out of what ever you received it in,a box or out of a friends back seat of their car.Tanks must have got under my skin because at last count I had bought about (  43 misc--tanks,hummers,tank hauling truck and trailer,and a big jeep.  Thats "forty three"  and a lot of different scales ) and this did not count the last four static model kits I bought.Now if someone who spends a lot of time studying and doing resurch on WWII tanks was to see these,they would see right off lots of things that may be wrong and go into some kind of "shock" as to all these "discrepencys" they would find.
(sorry about my spelling) But the problem is I don't know any of these people except here on the tank forums.Everyone who has seen my tanks in person know they are tanks but thats about it,a couple of people have actually been able to tell the difference between a few of the models.

Now is there anything wrong with wanting to replicat an actual WWII model tank and also mabe try to paint it an actual color of a real tank that was in this time erra--------"Of course not"--This is a tank forum and it is to be expected.But this asspect is just one part of a forum if you wish it to be an active forum.If you try to limit a forum to just one scale size,painting all the same correct way,making all the same corrections to be one of the "gang",Well you are going to find yourselves with about 20 members
and you will be able to read every new post for the "last day" in about 5 minutes.( then what )

It's not to hard to figure it out---Go look around the web at some of these so called "high society got to have the best and have to do it this way sites"---Pretty darn dead 

The old general rule of thumb "if you don't have something nice to say,don't say anything",just look and comment to your self with a smile on your face knowing how much better you can do it.Now on the other hand if a member posts and says "what do you think guys " or "can you tell me whats wrong with it and can you tell me how to fix this" then the door is open and they do want your opinion.Even then it would be great if this was done in a nice way with a little taste and some thought on what you say will be taken by that member and also other's on the forum.

No sarcastic comments to members,to their country,to their models,and incourage the new guy to come on board and post their models and questions no matter what degree they are into the hobby at that point.They may be the new guy who will end up wanting to make there model as close to the real one as possible,or they may be just as happy and have just as much fun painting theirs black with pink spots
and running it around the house chassing the cat.There is room here for us all no matter what are tastes.
                              BIGMIG  ::) ::)

good points all-round bigmig, just one point though mate, where the hell do you keep FORTY THREE of these beasties....

oz wrote: good points all-round bigmig, just one point though mate, where the hell do you keep FORTY THREE of these beasties....

Well had to move the wife's bed out in the laundry room to make more room for my toy's---

                                    Larry 

P.S. she just walked by and I'm glad se did not see this--or--you know who would be sleeping in the laundry room