Looking on it now, the oaint went on a little yellow-green. I might try mixing dunkelgelb with german yellow, to hopefully make it lighter and closer to the proper shade.
You might want to just pick one of the standard commercially available “German Dark Yellows” and go with that rather than doing any custom mixing.
German Dark Yellow was really more of a light tan with a SLIGHTLY yellow cast and an even SLIGHTER (almost imperceivable) and questionable greenish component.
p.s. Road wheel centers really should match the vehicle body color with only the outside edge of the wheel being a black rubber tire. As seen in the many reference photos above.
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I’ll see what I can do when I have some free time. The last photo is using Vallejo’s Dunkelgelb paint. It might just be the light or something.
I hadn’t painted the road wheels yet in the photo, that’s just my primer layer. The Sdkfz. 2 doesn’t have rubber road wheels, just plain metal.
Eh, no. Sorry but the Sd. Kfz. 2 definitely does have rubber tires on the road wheels.
I worked around this guy for over eight years and he runs like a charm ~ so does the Swimmer, now all safely locked away and unseen at Benning.
(That is sarcasm by the way!)
(It is the RSO that just has plain, all stamped metal wheels. Also now locked away at Benning.)
Photos from the Patton Museum ~ Ft. Knox, Kentucky ~ Mike Koenig Photos
I know a photo of a model does not constitute proof but none the less here one is:
The inner road wheels are cast and the outer are stamped but they all have rubber tires vulcanized to the metal rims to make the tracks run more quietly. The 2 was powered by a small auto engine so it ran rather quietly. More like a small car than a motorcycle. The clatter of the rubber block tracks on pavement made more noise than the engine.
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Are the inner road wheels similar to those on the panzer I? They sure look like it
Similar yes, but I doubt they are/were the same.
The Panzer I’s wheels were larger, and the outside rim “tire” was much thicker, I believe, as it being a much heavier vehicle.
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Yeah good point, they just reminded me of the Panzer I. Regardless, I agree on the rubber
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Oh, I see, thank you. I guess I was not paying much attention, and the parts just looked too thin for rubber road wheels. THank you again for the correction.
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The sarcasm here is:
That the fairly accessible and open to the public collection of military vehicles that was the Patton Museum, Ft. Knox, Kentucky is now “safely” locked behind closed doors at Benning with only a few private tours and VIP trips offered throughout the year and these are very limited and rather hush, hush.
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looks around quickly, whispers: Psst, you wanna go raid Ft. Benning’s vehicle collection for “research purposes”?
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Yes, Absolutely! Let’s go!
There is even more there now than in the Patton Days, including, I believe, a Tiger I returned to us from a long term Museum stay in Britain. Stuff from Aberdeen. Stuff from other Military Museums that have been consolidated to Benning. And all for what purpose? They will tell you the collection is a training aid for the tanker school yet until perhaps just recently a trip to the Museum was NEVER on any formal tank training curriculum. (Others may disagree on that one) Once you have learned that in WWII we used airplane engine (radials) to power the tanks, giving us the necessary power to weight ratio and we still do the same today using aircraft derived gas turbines you have fairly much learned everything you can from the Museum. Oh and the soft targeting spots on a an Iraqi/Russian T-34/62.
I personally KNOW there is a running Panzer III there!
PLUS: (this is just a list of the runners that I recall off the top of my head and NOT the entire collection by any means!)
- Ketten
- Swimmwagon
- Kubel
- Sd. Kfz 10 Demag
- 251 w/short barrel 75mm
- Panzer lll
- Hetzer
- M-10
- M113 x2
- Antos
- Shermans x3
- US Halftracks x2
- Stuarts x2-3
- M20 Scout Car
- M728 with working plow and crane
- M578 with working crane
- Sheridan
*Today these form only a very small part of the overall Benning collection.
Both photos copyright Mike Koenig ~ All Rights Reserved
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Yeah I was stationed at Knox 88-92. My kids and I really enjoyed the exhibits at the museum. And the show they put on every 4th of July. Just before I left in 94 they got a Jagdtiger they were working on. I think it was the one from Aberdeen.
It was a Jagdpanzer IV. They got that one running as well but a few years later the engine blew. The Museum sent the engine off to a trusted guy who rebuilds Maybachs in Germany but then the guy died and all we got back was a crate of mis-matched unsalvageable parts.
Photo Copyright Mike Koenig ~ All Rights Reserved
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Yikes!!!
Aw, man!
Those vehicles were running, no guarantee that they still are. With a running vehicle, you have to actually take it out and run it once in a while.
Ken
Agreed. But it is a lot easier reactivating a “ran when parked” vehicle from the Patton Museum than it is a “30 coats of paint in the shape of a tank” from Aberdeen.
All the Pz. III required was a good engine cleaning, new spark plugs, fresh gas and a couple of new, off the shelf BMW radiators. (Of couse having two of the top Mercedes mechanics in the US on the volunteer staff didn’t hurt. Not one bit!)
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There are private collectors out there with vehicles the great unwashed never get to see. These are just a Government based private collection now, unfortunately.
The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum is also a Privately owned collection, but Rob has it open for general public.
Lots of WW2 runners there too:
Humber Mk IV
Ram Kangaroo
M36 Jackson
Sexton
Panther Ausf A
Stug IV
JagdPanzer IV (L)
Sherman Firefly
M8 Greyhound
Panzer 38(t)
Hetzer
Panzer IV x 2
KettenKrad
BMW R75 Sidecar
Soon - a M3 Grant Welded Hull
Although some of the engines have been swapped out for reliable modern ones. Makes sense, these original engines are specialist repair jobs and parts are very expensive if you can find them.
Oh, and most are available to ride in when they hold the End of August, Armourfest weekend.
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Peter, I think you are missing my point here entirely.
The Patton was a Government supported (taxpayer) Museum open to the public and to historians and writers doing research on the subject.
Benning is now an even larger Museum Collection, still taxpayer supported but almost totally closed to the public. I know some of the old Patton Volunteers have been allowed access to see and work on some of the equipment. Also I have seen several videos done by well known authors doing reports on the Collection. And finally I do know there are the occasional private (unpublicized, look but don’t touch) walking tours given from time to time.
Myself, as I only have a “Standard US Driver’s License,” after this May or June I won’t be able to even get on the base proper, much less into the collection. Then touching/working on the equipment is another question entirely!
Pete, as to your friend with the private vehicle collection: I suspect if I walked up to him and said I had 8+ years as a Patton Volunteer, am also a published writer, photographer and award winning modeler on the subject and would like to volunteer my time, efforts and abilities, I suspect I would most likely be welcomed with open arms!
(No brag, just fact.)
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