Panzer IV Ausf H Painting

[nheather]

Quick question, Panzer IV, but guess it applies to any tank with Shurtzen.

 

As I understand it the Ausf H was delivered with Shurtzen armour on sides and turret.  Sure some will get knocked off with use but assume it is new delivery.

 

Question 1 - were they delivered in overall dark yellow and then any camouflage was applied in the field or did they come camouflaged from the factory

 

Question 2 - regardless of the answer to 1, would the camouflage be applied just to the Shurtzen leaving the parts behind in plain dark yellow or would camouflage have been applied everywhere even behind the Shurtzen.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Kingsman]

Factory camo on most PzIV = no.  Possibly on late production Ausf J with the mesh Schurzen. 

 

Crews or unit workshops applied their own disruptive patterns with the paint paste provided.  Whether there would be any of the paint paste left over for painting replacement schurzen is an interesting question.  That might depend how much the paste was thinned and how liberally the resulting paint was applied in the first place.  One might imagine that left-over paste would be conserved.

 

So you have the possibilities of some plain dunkelgelb schurzen sections or sections painted differently.  Missing or damaged sections may have been retrieved from knocked-out tanks.  I have seen models with schurzen plates in red primer, but I'm not sure how correct that would be.

[nheather]

Thanks for the info.

 

Missed my question though.

 

The turret behind the applied armour (is that still call Shurtzen?) would that have been left plain dark yellow or would they have tried to paint the turret behind the armour.

 

If done in the field I guess it would depend on what the painting crew could be bothered to do.

 

Likewise would they have camoflaged the hull behind the side skirts.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel