Paint choice

[Simon Marc Robinson]

Hi guys
Just getting into my build of my Tiger 131, I'm wanting to get as near to the color scheme as possible, thanks to Armortek for the excellent booklet and colour sample, but I live in Thailand, 3 hours drive to the nearest hobby shop and I'm limited to tamiya paints, before I go spend a fortune on buying the wrong colour, can anybody recommend what mix of tamiya paints is required?? To achieve that 131 look.

Or if other brand some paintthat I can get on line, the type and approx quantity I'll need to complete that size of model.

Cheers
Simon

[michaelthompson]

You could try going to a local car body repair shop and ask them to mix you up the correct colours using RAL 8000 for the base and RAL 7008 for the cam. These are the colours the tank museum has used on 131.

[Simon Marc Robinson]

RAL 8000 & RAL 7008 are they international paint colour codes??

[michaelthompson]

As far as I am aware yes, if you google the Ral numbers it will show you the colours. Have a look at this paint conversion chart. You can search the Ral numbers and find the correct closest match to it

http://www.paint4models.com/paintchart/ ... 0101g.html#

[Stephen White]

Simon, Michael

There is a catch here - the modern RAL standards are not the ones in use during the war.

There are a number of good paint matching charts, have a look here:

http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?t=9

They should allow you to mix up the correct colours using Tamiya paints. If you can't face paint mixing, the colours are available in model acrylics or, at a price, in rattle cans from suppliers to the restoration fraternity.

I prefer Xtracrylics or Lifecolor as the most accurate of the bunch but others such as Mig Jimenez and AK Interactive offer ready mixes. I've tried Vallejo but found a lot of problems with paint flow and consistency.

For an example of the endless, self perpetuating debate about Tunisian German paint schemes and especially Schw. Pz. Abt. 501, see here:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/th ... 0/RAL+7008

To summaries the debate:

- the contemporary German general orders required RAL 8020 and RAL 7027. (Have a look at my PzIII thread).

- As the first Tiger unit into Tunisia, there is some evidence 501 did their own thing.

- after a lot of research, the Tank Museum concluded that Tiger 131 was probably painted in RAL 8000 and 7008

- the memories of the veterans and contemporary colour photos are unreliable and there will always be a degree of uncertainty.

- cover it with mud/dust and no-one will be able to tell anyway.

Good luck.

Stephen

[John Hill]

Hi Simon, currently building a Centurion and painting as I go, This means lots of small painting sessions so the convenience of aerosol was attractive. After looking at what was easily available and affordable I came across Montana Paints.. The paint is made in Germany and available on line. I deal with a company called Graff-City , who have an excellent website and the guy there is very knowledgeable on paint. I am using the range called Montana Black, there are 187 colour shades. It is oil resistant, weatherproof and dries with a hard matt finish. It is a resin based paint ( the graffiti artist love it ) so it can be applied in cold and damp condition without problems.
I am paying £3.99 for a 400ml can and it contains a lot of paint, Graff-City also do a range of caps with different spray profiles.
Maybe I am not a purist when it comes to exact colour , because if you look at the all the variants that went into the pre and war years production of a finished tank, you would be hard pushed to find two the same.

Hope this helps, John

[Stephen White]

Michael

A couple more thoughts.

If you do choose to go with rattle cans, you'd need to check on postal arrangements, as not every country allows gas cans to be posted.

Whatever base colours were used in Tunisia, it is very difficult to make out the use of two colours in all the contemporary photos. I must have looked at every photo exisiting of Pz III Ausf Ns in Tunisia and I only ever found two in which the two colours are able to be discerned, despite knowing the two colour camouflage was used by Pz Regt 8.

When you paint your model, the two colours will stand out, whatever paint you use. To unify them and tone them down, I'd always use filters. I've just added some notes to the Knowledge Base which might be helpful.

Stephen

[Simon Marc Robinson]

While on the subject of paint, can anybody fill me in on "etch primer", been reading that a lot of people using it, but don't know much about it, other than there's acid mixed with it and hardener is required, can this still be used by an air brush or does a conventional spray gun need to be used??

Also if etch primer is not available what s a good primer that bonds well with alloys??

Cheers
Simon

[Simon Marc Robinson]

While on the subject of paint, can anybody fill me in on "etch primer", been reading that a lot of people using it, but don't know much about it, other than there's acid mixed with it and hardener is required, can this still be used by an air brush or does a conventional spray gun need to be used??

Also if etch primer is not available what s a good primer that bonds well with alloys??

Cheers
Simon

[Peter Silcock]

I use Upol acid etch primer in a standard aerosol can readily available from Halfords. Doesn't need a hardener spray straight from the can. But a word of warning - use a proper paint spraying filtered mask in a well ventilated area - this stuff is lethal to the lungs. Cans are about £12 - its much cheaper to buy 1 litre tins from a paint supplier but then you need thinners and a spray gun . Never airbrushed it on but this stuff may be a bit thick for your standard modellers airbrush.

[Adrian Harris]

> I use Upol acid etch primer in a standard aerosol can

Oddly enough I've been using some of this recently. I was really disappointed how thickly it appeared to go on - more of a sand coat than a mist coat - but once dried overnight it didn't seem too bad .

Looking on the car restoration forums, there seems to be some debate as to whether you should over spray with standard primer within an hour, so the acid primer hasn't fully hardened, or whether you should leave it to go off fully overnight before starting with the normal primer. How have you found it ?

Adrian.

[Peter Silcock]

Adrian it is possible that you have not shaken the can enough or that you are spraying too close. This paint goes on very very thinly indeed and sometimes I have had to put 2 coats on. Goes on much better with the can warm and shaken for at least 2 minutes and more. Don't spray primer on until the etch coat has dried for at least 24 hours otherwise you may get a paint reaction where the etch coat melts and you have to start again( ask me how I know). Incidentally UPOL high build primer filler is really thick and good for adding texture just before it goes off.

[Adrian Harris]

Thanks Peter.

I know I shook the can for long enough but I think the workshop may have been too cold to be using rattle cans. There's no heating in the workshop unless I take a fan heater and these cans are too anti-social to use indoors, so I may have to wait for the weather to warm up again before continuing the painting

Adrian.

[michaelthompson]

Try heating the bottom of the can with a hairdryer and then give it a good shake. (but not for too long)

[Sarah Frazer]

Hi Adrian,

I've found the best/safest way to warm aerosol cans is to put them in a bowl of warm (25 to 30 degrees)water for a while. You don't want to get them hot, just warm. It does make quite a difference.

Regards,

Sarah