Question to JackG's about the Tunisian Tiger "Tropen" camoflage

[Johan]

Hi Jack,
I am familiar to the Bovington Tiger - regretfully I never got around to visit the museum while I was living in the UK.

I have never seen the pattern executed so convincingly before - for some reason I never realized that it is actually the same scheme.

Have been trying to get my head around the patterns on a few of these early Tigers for some time.
#123 of 503 is one example where it is not obvious to me what the pattern is.

This is supposed to be taken before Kursk.
Could this also be the "Tropen" pattern, your pattern?

Here is a different rendition, posted for discussion purpose only.

http://www.panzerbaer.de/ has some sort of a hosting problem atm, that is usually my first stop when it comes to German camouflage.

Thanks for the links!

David Byrden's work is simply brilliant and Hartmut Holst page is also bookmarked.

I did not want to Hijack your thread hence separate posting.

Very Best Regards
Johan

Edited August 4, 2013 by Johan

[JackG]

hello Johan,

Regarding the Bovington Tiger, I recall reading the late author Jentz was present when these tropical colours were discovered. There was a portion though that could not be detected, so under Jentz's guidence, the restorers completed the overall two tone scheme.

The tropen directive only stated that a total of one third of the vehicle was to be covered with RAL7008, and the shapes are only described as irregular patches. For the colour photo you have linked, if the colouring is accurate, my opinion would be this is an example of the dark yellow introduce in Feb. 1943 as the new overall colour for vehicles. Olive green was applied afterwards in the field, if deemed necessary by the commanding officer.

Over at missing-lynx forums you will find some discussion of 503 during Kursk. Many thoughts on the exact colour combiantions, but I did not encounter any suggesting tropical tones.

regards,

Jack

[Johan]

Hi Jack,

Thank you for taking your time and sorry about the subject thread wording, I did not realize that I could not change the name of the thread after posting.
Maybe a moderator can help and correct it to "Question on Tunisian Tropen scheme, applicable at Kursk?"
Anyway, thank you for your support and congratulations on an excellent Tunisian Tiger!

Very Best Regards
Johan

[JackG]

I've gone ahead and posted questions on this subject over at missing-lynx, as it is something that I'm also curious about.

As for camou patterns on Kursk Tigers, I think the reason one cannot come up with a consistent style is that they were applied in the field, at workshops, even possibly by the crews themselves. Colour is also a variable as they were supplied in paste form, and could be diluted many ways, with fuel, used oil, etc.

regards,

Jack