RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Max-U52 wrote:Sounds to me like Malayan "Emergency" is kinda like Korean "Conflict". There's that common language again. Bet they both seemed a lot like "War" to the poor slobs in the mud.

If it's any consolation, Roy, even though you can't see them through the computer, you still get plenty of blank looks from me just for being you. I usually just scratch my head and say, "Hmmm. Highlanders."

Highlanders? I have a theory that the Vikings and Highlanders get hyperactive in Summer, because of light deprivation in Winter (probably true of Alaskans too, but they're new to it....where we've had 1000s of years to evolve our own brand of mania)....
Coming down to Earth for a moment, though, I noticed that many of the tanks on display at the former Aberdeen (not to be confused with our) Proving Ground have the tools painted the same colour as the tank, or is this just my Spring mania kicking in?

I couldn't help wondering about the date of your Cousins untimely passing because the Indonesian Confrontation kicked off in the mid 60s,
Perhaps his suffering was caused by the Malayan Communist emergency that was primarily in the 50s although it kept going into the 60s long after the wider world thought it had ended,
My Uncle Tony who was called up in the mid 50s and served with the Suffolk Regt and was in the Malayan Peninsula at the time gave me some insight as to what to expect when I went to Borneo a few years later.
His advice "LOOK UP" was something that was never mentioned in my training but it probably saved my worthless neck more than once.
Gary is quite right call it what you like any euphemism is still WAR and whatever you call it friends as well as innocents as well as the "Enemy" all suffer,
As with your cousin whatever kind of person you were before you were involved in the filth and terror of it you are without exception not the same person afterwards.
Shaun.

jarndice wrote:I couldn't help wondering about the date of your Cousins untimely passing because the Indonesian Confrontation kicked off in the mid 60s,
Perhaps his suffering was caused by the Malayan Communist emergency that was primarily in the 50s although it kept going into the 60s long after the wider world thought it had ended,
My Uncle Tony who was called up in the mid 50s and served with the Suffolk Regt and was in the Malayan Peninsula at the time gave me some insight as to what to expect when I went to Borneo a few years later.
His advice "LOOK UP" was something that was never mentioned in my training but it probably saved my worthless neck more than once.
Gary is quite right call it what you like any euphemism is still WAR and whatever you call it friends as well as innocents as well as the "Enemy" all suffer,
As with your cousin whatever kind of person you were before you were involved in the filth and terror of it you are without exception not the same person afterwards.
Shaun.

Quite right, Shaun. It was the Malayan 'Emergency' in the 50s that brought about the intolerable repeat attacks of malaria. Sometimes, I muddle indonesia and Malaysia up, partly because of their proximity and also because of their cultural ties.. (Islam,. etc..). As a boy, I linked 'Malaysia' with 'Malaria', but forgot that. Little was said about his death, despite the fact that the very public nature of it hit the local papers. Shame, and lack of
'gumption' on his part- as a conclusion- were all you could expect in the 50s, and early 60s. The overused modern terms 'vulnerable', 'sensitive' 'PTSD" etc. were never used in those days. We still had echoes of 'lack of Moral Fibre' ringing in RAF ears, and the best a soldier could hope for was 'shell shock'...

A Pz IV pic here from the Aberdeen proving ground, and a Pz 111 from elsewhere, show the tanks, including spare tracks, etc., entirely covered in one coat of paint. This may, of course have been an economy measure, or simply a means of keeping rust away. Maybe it wasn't... The problem stems from the lack of actual WW2 colour photos to flesh out the camouflage issues.

Time is money , yes and it protects the steel.
Also stops people taking souvenirs, might be difficult unscrewing threads and opening up hinges without a 4 pound hammer .
Those tanks won't be going anywhere in a hurry.

ronnie42 wrote:Time is money , yes and it protects the steel.
Also stops people taking souvenirs, might be difficult unscrewing threads and opening up hinges without a 4 pound hammer .
Those tanks won't be going anywhere in a hurry.

Fair points, but in WW2 Time wasn't so much money, as of the essence. My contention is that tanks that were repaired and put back in the field (many were) for example, or were painted on the move by maintenance crews, may just have been daubed all over with the colour(s) of that year and conflict, without regard to screw threads and general appearance. Putting white winter camouflage on a King tiger, for example would have been quite pointless, if the tracks on the turret- which are hard to miss- had been left unpainted..
Here's an example of a Pz IV where everything on the tank, including the spare tracks at the front, has evidence of three tone camouflage.. Pity about the old/ unique Fox banner on the pic.

Looking at the idea it is reasonable that anything visible on a tank would need to blend with the tank or the camouflage is pointless. Look at the tools on the heng long tiger 1, the wooden shafts would need to be grey or the whole effect is ruined.

Lct548 wrote:Looking at the idea it is reasonable that anything visible on a tank would need to blend with the tank or the camouflage is pointless. Look at the tools on the heng long tiger 1, the wooden shafts would need to be grey or the whole effect is ruined.

That was my reasoning as well. If you consider that some T34s were rushed straight from the factory to the frontline unpainted, for example, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine a similar impact on other combatant nations under pressure....
Steven Zaloga mentions these incidents in his book, 'T34/76 Medium Tank 1941-45'.
I wonder how one of these naked T34s would be represented by a modeller? Bare metal, and a growing light coat of rust?
The silvery, and metallic painted shovels and tools, we see represented on models, would be a dead give away in bright light conditions on a battlefield.

I doubt those T34's had time to rust, the losses were horrific.

Good afternoon,
An argument can be made for either mode of appearance. I like to detail paint add on bits for a factory fresh look then go from there with weathering, etc. This is strictly my own preference and I see beautiful examples all the time here on the Forum of complete spray and camo jobs as well as detail painted accessories. It is all good.
regards,
Painless