RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Son of a gun-ner wrote:Roy, they'd be XF 23 and XF 19 if they were flat colours.

By 'Flat', I really meant 'two-dimensional', Mick not matt. In fact, I had a look at the Abrams manual to see whether some tinted adhesive film had been used over transparent plastic, to achieve the translucent effect. Paint (2-D) on opaque plastic, whether gloss, or matt wouldn't create a 3-D translucent effect-and that's what I was actually getting at. certainly, gloss has more of a sheen.
The film that's used to tint car windows it truly translucent. If place on clear plastic, it could be another periscope/vison block option.
Incidentally, Tamiya 'matt' paints (XF) sometimes appear with a satin finish. I bought a bottle of XF-1 (Flat Black) to use as the base colour for Panzer uniforms, but it left a horribly shiny surface on the Tamiya Commander. 'Nato black' might work better, as it doesn't leave a sheen. I guess, it's a case of trial and error. Tamiya paints didn't cut if for me, for a decent Panzer figure.
I've just bought AK's 'Panzer Crew-Black Uniforms(AK3001) for Panzer torso painting, in fact.

By the by, on Amazon Tamiya X-23 (clearblue) appears as XF-23 on the Tamiya Colour Chart, just to add to any confusion.

ronnie42 wrote:The question could be was the photo taken with the flash on.

However they achieved the effect, Ronnie, it looks the biz.
I see you used some perspex on your Panther F

Were you happy with the outcome?

As for painting the "lenses". Ammo of Mig makes Crystal blue, crystal green crystal smoke etc in acrylic paints. If you use them on the lens they look amazing. The best results come when you add it a drop at a time and allow each layer to dry before adding another. It becomes very deep.

Yellowshaker wrote:As for painting the "lenses". Ammo of Mig makes Crystal blue, crystal green crystal smoke etc in acrylic paints. If you use them on the lens they look amazing. The best results come when you add it a drop at a time and allow each layer to dry before adding another. It becomes very deep.

A good tip, many thanks!. I imagine these layered coloured effects would look even more effective, with a fine coating of translucent Micro Krystal Klear. That's what I used, eventually, on my Schumo Jagdpanther periscopes.
Here are a couple of pics I took from the inside of a Swiss AFV, back in 2015 (Swiss Military Museum) I can visualise the 'crystal' range pf colours helping to replicate the look.
Sorry about the pics; the light conditions were very poor, and my then (ancient) iPhone wasn't a patch on recent iterations in low light conditions. Well, that's my excuse anyway.

It also depends on the age of the tank. Modern tanks have different coatings to protect crew eyesight from lasers and seem to change color depending the light. I typically cut some left over acrylic that has some thickness to it which simulates the chunkiness of the periscope glass.

Hello.
The thin crystal clear plastic they use on blister packs & the windows on cardboard toy boxes.
It's super easy to work with &, because the area is so small, it's plenty strong enough.
Colour it using a good felt tip on the inside of the "glass" & they look really good & they've cost under a quid.
Hope that's of some use to someone.
Kind regards. Jo.

DMP1 wrote:Hello.
The thin crystal clear plastic they use on blister packs & the windows on cardboard toy boxes.
It's super easy to work with &, because the area is so small, it's plenty strong enough.
Colour it using a good felt tip on the inside of the "glass" & they look really good & they've cost under a quid.
Hope that's of some use to someone.
Kind regards. Jo.

Thanks for the tip, Jo I once tried that irritating plastic that's 'riveted' together, and typically found on tool and small electronic packaging; but it was difficult to work with- it crazed when cut, or sliced fingers in revenge... (Thinking now of an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm', where Larry David struggles to remove a mobile phone from its packaging).
The next time I try anything putting anything 'optical' in a tank, I shall certainly bear your suggestion in mind.

You might want to stick the blue sweet wrapers on the front to give it that filter tint.
Unfortunately you can't get just the blue wraped sweets so you will have to buy a complete tub of all flavours.

Thought I would show you what I am doing for a 3 Jagdpanther build. I use brass rectangular tubing, 2 part epoxy and Tamiya clear green. Make the periscopes in brass, fill with 2 part epoxy, coat the back side with Tamiya clear green. when it has hardened I sanded off an angle to make them look like the real thing. Then paint up frames and the back properly. Really gives a nice effect...

Hey, Thanks, Dean! I must say they look pretty impressive, and so it looks like a good epoxy could fill a larger receptacle better than Micro Krystal Clear. The Tamiya clear green also sounds like a good option.
What brand of epoxy did you use, just out of interest?
Generally, I use Plastic Fusion- but it's more like a superglue, and it didn't occur to me to use it.
I think JB Weld Plastic Weld might be a better choice for periscopes/lenses.