Railway wheels would only be chrome shiny if they were being used as in freight or passenger operations, ie, continuously, the same thing goes for the rail heads, after a couple of days without much movement, in a damp climate as in Europe they would soon get a film of rust on them. A rail gun would/could only be moved slowly, and only when they need to aim it, the only barrel movement was elevation, because they weren't able to be traversed they were placed on a curved section of track purposefully laid for them. They could only fire around 14 rounds a day.
You have to stop and think about this now. There would have been constant movement on the tracks. The train engines would have been constantly moving the gun around to different positions then back away when she was fired. Then come up to the gun again to bring shells from the climate controlled box cars and move her to another spot. Than at the end of a day move the gun back again to a more hidden position. I don't think it takes a higher speed to keep the rails shiny. I have rail spurs around where I live that don't get a lot of use and they stay somewhat shiny. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
After watching and reading post I have a piece of advice / suggestion for all modelers. When you build a model, you build it the way you want it. Now if you want to be as realistic and true as if it was real and being used in it's time in history that is awesome. Me I like to think of what I want it to look like for me. I think the shiny chrome wheels are an eye catching part of the model. The only way to know how a model looked in its time is to have been there. Modeling is a form of art and everyone is a different artist.
Gary, Don't just wash and throw out the white looking "grey primer", you could always add some of the black primer you receive to the white looking grey primer and then make your own "dark grey primer" to your liking.
Gary this could be a blessn in disguise! You could consider "multi-primer your replica" and with your primary coat, you would have one hell of a camouflage look. WOW! CARRY ON WITH YOUR BAD-SELF SIR....
The grey they used before the Kursk campaign was called "Mouse-Grey" it is a grey color with a green hue...remember the box art is simply an artist impression. you are on the right track Gary....*no pun intended"
I hope so, this German Field Gray could make or break a model this size. Did not want to do much weathering on it since it was a new weapon just out of the garage.
Gary, I'm glad the pen worked for you! You can also decant the fluid out of the pen and air brush it. If you find it is too shiny you can dull it down a bit with a dark wash just to take it down a bit
Your solutions show a great deal of intelligence and good ol' American know-how. It's nice to see where not-so-common, common sense can be found these days. As to model colors, you've opened the proverbial can of worms. A bit of research will reveal the following: -1. Generally - German 'equipment' was painted _Feldgrau_ (field grey) and _Braun_ (brown) from 1930s - early 1943. -2. After February, 1943 the paint scheme changed to _Dunkelgelb_ (dark-yellow) base with added optional _Rotbraun_ (red-brown) and/or _Olivgrün_ (olive-green) patterns. These colors were issued to field units in cans as a concentrated paste. The thinners varied from nothing to water to gas (petrol - for those across the pond). -3. All paint wears and fades quickly in harsh sunlight and weather conditions. -4. Paint batches can vary due to changing manufacturing processes and available raw materials. -5. The very nature/essence of Nazi Germany and WWII forced people to improvise on a massive scale. -6. Scaling colors, i.e. going from 1/1 to 1/72nd, depends on a lot of factors not always objective. Long story, short - there is no such thing as an _authentic_ color. If you think your color is right and you're in the ballpark of what seems a reasonable shade then, it's good enough. In other words, it's your model and your labor. You are entitled to paint it however your artistic desires want it...
Your right about the can of worms. I seen other models painted grey, or black, and one painted blue. I tried to do my research and I think this German Field Gray may be closer to the real color. There must be a reason they painted most all there other equipment in Europe that color so why not this gun.
After doing a bunch of research I found this German Field Gray was used on most of there equipment in Europe. So it would only make sense they would use it on this gun. No real prof of that, so I'm going to stick with the Field Gray.
Great job so far, looking forward to watching the whole build. I found a good use for the Tamiya drill is as a paint mixer for the Vallejo paint. If you cut a piece of the sprew off with a little bit of a bend at the end and fix it to the drill it is the perfect speed and size to mix in those little bottles.
Gary, I noticed your taped axels. What I normally do to protect axels on armour kits is use small pieces of heat shrink tube (not shrunk) that just fit over the axel. Easy to put on and reusable. Also will use the same idea to plug holes that need to be paint free if the hole is to large for toothpick. Just a quick tip.
I was going to suggest Molotow, but wasn't sure if they were too shiny, but in the model car community they have been growing in popularity. I have a full line of them, AND you can get the refill, and actually use it in an airbrush. Good stuff. Good points all, but when it comes to the military, wartime, and paint, I'm reminded of the Carey Grant movie, Pink Submarine...LOL! You're on the right track as usual. BTW, my observation is US, Russian, And German models are flooding the market. I think because so many people are doing Dioramas. Now some Israeli models are showing up...No Chinese, No Japanese (to speak of) and no middle eastern suicide bombers...Regards, Solomon
After hearing you talk about the colors of German war machines, I could be wrong, but here's my 2 cents, If the correct colors were green, Maybe Hollywood was afraid it would look too much like American equipment. We did grow up watching all the ww2 movies with the light gray equipment for the Germans. Another point is they use more American equipment painted in the German gray than German equipment
oh yea, the Molotow, 2 things if your not careful you can get a big pool of the stuff come out all at once. also I don't know about about enamel or acrylic clear coats, but a lacquer clear coat will dull it right out. i used it my tail ight bezels of a 65 impala then had to do them all over again
I think a lot of early WWll movies had problems with getting colors to show up right on the screen. Even today colors are manipulated because of background or lighting. It could have been the green blended in to much with the background so they painted things gray, maybe. Or the good guys were green and the bad guys were gray.
Good stuff - your observation on modeling companies building/featuring the German war machine is a prescient one - you never see Italian WW2 equipment...I think the German field gray is the uniform color, as you have surmised. Great job!
The hand is really not used as a background contrast but is used to help the camera focus on a part. In some of my videos you will see me use something black but sometimes it's much easier to just use my hand.
@@garybrinker178 I understand and respect your perspective but the fleshy part of your palm and fingers don't provide much contrast in the shots. Your show, though.
