Concrete armour

[Smithy1961]

On German WW2 vehicles was this painted to match the overall colour scheme, or just left natural?

[Cerberus]

I'll hazard a guess that it was painted in to match, and even had camo applied to it. 

 

 Matt

[Peter Browne]

Here is a StuG III at Bovington Tank Museum with concrete armour:

 

 

http://tank-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/finnish-army-Stug-III-40-ausf-g-tank-destroyer.html

 

And my own images of that vehicle:

 

https://ibb.co/XCg5B7Z

 

https://ibb.co/H7p5HBN

[John Tapsell]

The Bovington vehicle is an ex-Finnish example and so it isn't entirely representative of a German vehicle. It's also been repainted by the museum, so that's always something to be wary of when using museum exhibits as reference material.

[PDH]

I assume we are talking about Zimmerit?

 

Zimmerit itself was a chemical compound made up of pine crystals dissolved in benzene, zinc sulphide, barium sulphate, pine saw dust, PVA glue, pebble dust and ochre. When mixed correctly the result was a sticky soft putty. 

 

The ochre made up 15% of the compound and has been described as an earth tone colour. Zimmerit was applied over a red oxide base and because of the ochre in the compound it was 'pre-coloured' on application. Troops in the filled may/probably have added addition colours over the base ochre colour to effect a camouflage pattern.

 

P

 

 

[John Tapsell]

No - not zimmerit.

 

The OP is talking about layers of concrete that were added to some German vehicles - StuGs in particular. The Bovington StuG III in the photo above shows it added on the forward superstructure either side of the gun (the curved/domed sections directly above the Finnish registration and the driver's visor).

Edited April 19, 2021 by John Tapsell

[PDH]

2 hours ago, John Tapsell said:

No - not zimmerit.

 

The OP is talking about layers of concrete that were added to some German vehicles - StuGs in particular. The Bovington StuG III in the photo above shows it added on the forward superstructure either side of the gun (the curved/domed sections directly above the Finnish registration and the driver's visor).

 

Thanks John. I follow now! Stugs aren't my thing but I would have thought they would have painted the concrete otherwise it would have stood out too much. A bit like Allied Stars being overpaint - too good an aiming point.

 

P

 

[Pig of the Week]

This one certainly appears to be painted in a camo scheme...

 

[Cerberus]

41 minutes ago, Pig of the Week said:

This one certainly appears to be painted in a camo scheme...

 That's the picture I was looking at when I decided to hazard a guess... 

 

 Matt

[Peter Browne]

Not exactly the subject of this thread, but Sherman tanks also had cement applied to the front and sometimes rear - there are several photos online.

 

There are also a number of 1/35 scale aftermarket for StuG III/IV vehicles with concrete.  There is also the Dragon kit 6891 which shows painting, including camouflage applied to the concrete, on the cover art:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dragon-6891-stugiii-ausfg--1034126