Pappy Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 G'day, I have one of these to build and I would like to know what the interior colour should be. The instructions state the interior should be aluminium, but I would have though white a more appropriate colour? Does anybody have pics of the drivers compartment? cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 According the research of Mike Starmer, interior's of British armour was silver (aluminum?) till about 1940. It was then switched to white (at production factories), possibly because of the need to allocate aluminum paint to the aircraft industry. regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks very much for the reply Jack, it seemed like an odd choice to me but several people have also told me the same thing so I will use silver paint, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 (edited) GDay Pappy. Tamiya do a good Alum paint as silver maybe to bright. Are you Intending to have all opened up, even this will not show the inside very much. Edited July 24, 2012 by foxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Yes, which ever metal paint you do chose, it should be flat. Also note the commander's hatch cover, the underside (or inside) colour usually would be the same as the exterior. regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 Yes, which ever metal paint you do chose, it should be flat. Also note the commander's hatch cover, the underside (or inside) colour usually would be the same as the exterior. regards, Jack G'day Jack, I knew that the commander's hatch shoukld match the camo colour. I woukld think the driver's compartnment hatch interior would still be silver though? I have bought the Eduard PE set and started to ad all the interior gubbins, so yes the driver's hatch will be opened. I can't get to my pictures as I am on a business trip at the moment and will be away for a little while, but I will post some pics when I return. I read a review recently which pointed out one of the major flaws of the kit. The driver's compartment was open to the fighting compartment immediately behind it via a forward sloping and arched opening behind the driver's seat. if you look at the outside of the hull, you can see how the hull platees have a forwards sloping join or seam behind the driver's compartment. This is where the forward opening should be. The kit has a solid wall moulded in place, and this is perpendicular to the compartment floor. This is not a problem if the driver's hatch is closed, and even with it open it will only be aproblem for those that know about it, but now, i know about it! Several of the initial reviews were quite glowing but failed to mention the issue. I would still have bought the kit but it would have been nice to know about it so that I could have corrected the flaw BEFORE I strated sticking on all the PE. I have an idea for a fix though. I will make a new arched bulkhead, and glue this in place in front of the existing kit rear bulkhead. I will paint the rear bulkhead black to contrast with the silver of the sloping bulkhead and driver compartment to provide a 'forced' shadow. It is not an ideal solution, but it will be better than just leaving it as is. There should also be a large tank of some sort on the right side next to the driver's head. the compartment only has a seat so the driving gear levers and a whole lot of stuff need is missing. The PE supplies a lot and makes the area pretty busy, and stuff like the instrument box and junction boxes at the front of the compartment will not be visible even with the hatch fully open so I shan't bother with this stuff, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Fairly certain other hatches would remain the interior colour, as the driver would be buttoned up during combat. If anyone knows otherwise, hopefully they will pipe in. regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Yes your right on the inside of the of hatches Jack such as the main drivers would be alum/grey looking with wear and tear. The turret Inside hatchs however would be the same as the outside(hull), except for the cushion pads which were a canvas colour, but went lighter with the weather(desert for instance). Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 Yes your right on the inside of the of hatches Jack such as the main drivers would be alum/grey looking with wear and tear.The turret Inside hatchs however would be the same as the outside(hull), except for the cushion pads which were a canvas colour, but went lighter with the weather(desert for instance). Hope this helps. Cheers Foxy, that does help. Was the driver's seat leather or was this canvas covered ad well? I was going to paint the padded portions brown or perhaps black, should this be a khaki/canvas colour instead ? cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Starmer Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 The standing painting instructions were that any interior surfaces of flaps, hatches and doors which when open were exposed to possible enemy observation were to be painted the basic exterior colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted August 5, 2012 Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 The standing painting instructions were that any interior surfaces of flaps, hatches and doors which when open were exposed to possible enemy observation were to be painted the basic exterior colour. G'day Mike, I fully agree with that as have the others. What I need to know now is the colour of the seat material (brown/black leather or a lighter colour for canvas?) as well as the colour of the padding on the underside of the turret hatches. The hatch interior surfaces themselves would have been painted the same basic exterior colour as you and the others have pointed out, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderland Models Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I've spoken to a number of WWII tank crewmen, and they have all told me that British tank crews had a habit of scraping off the paint from the inside of their tanks. When the tanks get hit, the paint would often fly off in flakes which would cut the crew inside. They would also end up breathing in the dust from the paint and getting lead poisoning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Hi Pappy. Sorry for the delay. Well canvas was a in a brown colour same as turret pads. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I've spoken to a number of WWII tank crewmen, and they have all told me that British tank crews had a habit of scraping off the paint from the inside of their tanks. When the tanks get hit, the paint would often fly off in flakes which would cut the crew inside. They would also end up breathing in the dust from the paint and getting lead poisoning. I think this may be an old soldier's tale - I cannot imagine any tank crew, having spent a hard day (or night) either in movement, combat or training, then deciding to give up sleep time (which is THE most important part of a soldiers' existence) in order to scrape the paint off the inside of their vehicle. You'd also need at least some light to see by, so doing it at night time would also be impractical - and then how are they going to collect and get rid of the scrapings? Don't forget we're not talking about simple flat plates here - there would be cables, pipes, boxes, racks and all sorts of paraphernalia they'd need to work around! In addition, it wasn't just the paint that flew around the tank if it got hit - the impact of a HESH shell would knock off a complete scab of the metal and thats what did (and would still do) the damage as it flew around the tank - not the paint flakes. Sorry, the more I think about it, there's no basis in reality for this tale! Of note, I remember that when I workd on Chieftain in the mid -70's onwards, the interior of the vehicle was still a relatively shiny aluminium colour, althought there was also lots of 'flesh-coloured' padding around the vehicles, partly as anti-spall protection but also I believe for sound deadening to reduce noise levels for the crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackpin Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Hi Pappy, I made this kit a while back and had to answer the very same questions about the interior fittings and colour, I trecked to the Hallowed ground of The Tank Museum at Bovington Camp, a place that has huge significance for us hatch rash heads. Anyway, the example at Bovy is all battoned down, I asked on their facebook page to show piccies of inside and to no avail, mine being a lonely voice, but, the Grant is open at the side hatches and if you look carefully they painted the interior silver after it was knocked out, a common practice on rebuilt american tanks in British service. They came out of the American factory white inside, and Bovington has re painted their Grant white, but left patches of silver underneath. So silver is your colour, got there in the end. regards Dave PS I'd put up photo evidence but I'm new and... how do you post pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) I think you will find that Aluminium was the colour for earlier tanks, then White for the Interior . Outer colour for any hatch's that opened out to the light. Edited September 5, 2012 by foxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackpin Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 yes, yes, Aluminium not silver, except for the inside of the hatches that were camo or body exterior colour. In fact the interior of the Ferret scout car in my old previous life was aluminium dull silverey colour deep down in the drivers oily well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackpin Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 (edited) Here are some reference pictures of this AFV at the Bovington Tank Museum http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/about34361.html Edited September 15, 2012 by trackpin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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