Eastern Front 1944
Maintenance

John Dunbar
After spending two weeks doing research on Tiger II camouflage patterns I simply gave up. The whole topic is a mess.
Units using the Tiger II constantly got shot to pieces oder were otherwise diminished only to be redeployed to a new location with new tigers.
Apparently there is a directive from 1943 ordering a yellow base paint to be applied to all AFVs. Another directive from late 1944 calls for a green base paint to be applied.
Roumor has it that Henschel temporarily had trouble to obtain the yellow paint whereas not many photographs show a green base paint or, in terms of quality, are simply not suitable to determine the color.
Additionally, the procedures for applying camouflage seem to be as different as the locations the units where deployed to. Though a consensus seems to be that green and brown in different shades, applied with a spraygun over yellow base paint was the major procedure to be used by the crews in the field. That tells me nothing about the camo patterns though.
By mid/late 1944 the "ambush camouflage" was odered to be applied by the producing factory. Again, paint shortages, end-war chaos and no real overview over individual vehicle assignements or re-assingements make it impossible to give a general statement about the camouflage pattern of the tanks of a given unit at a given time.
And if that's not enough,the use of Zimmerit was stopped abruptly in late 1944. No information about the remaining tanks with Zimmerit keeping it or was it scraped of? Were the tanks repainted if it got scraped of?
You might have a chance if you want to build one vehicle with a lot of pictures available or if you're a historian with a lot of spare time.
I decided to just build the Tiger II, having it delivered in yellow base paint with an eager and creative crew who did an excellent job in inventing their own camo scheme. 🙂

Rui S
Hi, John, do you have an idea where do you want to depict the Tiger II, in 1944?
Season? Place? schwere Panzer unit?
I may have some nice colour plates to help, if you want?

Kerry COX
John, I would grab Rui's offer with both hands mate as he has so much reference material on everything, and he is our "Go to' Guru on info. 🙂

Rui S
HEHEHE, Hi Kerry. Thx for your kind words Mate.
I'm not a Guru, for sure, but I do like to help.

Kerry COX
Of course master. heheheh🙂 👍

John Dunbar
Hey Rui, YES PLEASE!! 🙂 🙂
Thanks for your offer!! Please contact me via hirn3(at)live.com. The whole project already tasted a bit stale because I had to make stuff up. You're saving it man! 🙂
I'd like my Tiger somwhere in the east in fall. As far as I know S.PZ.Abt 501 and 503 were heavily involved there??
Thank you so much!!!

Evovatus !
Go ahead, buddy! 😉

Rui S
Hi John, glad that I can try and help.
I'll see what I can find, and post it in "MT" album, so that interested mates can see.

John Dunbar
Awesome!! Thank you very much! Looking forward to the references!! 🙂

Rui S
@ John, that's what I found so far:

= 1944, East. S.PZ.Abt 501, 503 and 505

Military Thinking MT1 | Album by mig (1:35)

Hope it helps.

John Dunbar
Rui! This is exactly what I needed!! Thank you so much!! I think I will go for 3/501. But I have to apply Zimmerit then, never done that before. Looking forward to it.
Again, thank you very much. :-D

Rui S
Hi, John the following image is representative of what you first said in this thread:

[img1]

If you imagine a war correspondent taking a photo to the turret side (it even as a number on it), we would say that this Tiger II number XXX didn't have any Zimmerit on it, hehehe

John Dunbar
Ha! 🙂 A picture is worth more tthan a thousand words! What to do now? Zimmerit or not? 🙂
I get the the feeling the more one digs into the subject the more confusing it gets.
There were even two Tiger II-Units called "S. Pz. Abt 501"?!? One SS and one Heer...
But I refuse to depict SS Units (that's a line I'd feel uneasy to cross) so I definitely go for the Heer version.

Rui S
Hi mate, yap I agree.
Until now the info on the colour plates depict the 313, in the S. Pz. Abt 501, in Poland 1944, with Zimmerit, but sometimes colour plates are not very truthful, (I like them to help me do the camo schemes because most photos are a bit dim in that respect).
So with or without zimmerit? it's better to find some 313 photos first. I will try that.
Cheers

John Dunbar
Skipped the railway tracks and will probably go for an additional Opel Blitz for the scene.

Rui S
It was a great joy and enlightening to me, searching, studding, and compile the info. in the "MT" thread, about this interesting subject, the S. Pz. Abt 501, and the 313, tank.
I have to thank you Mate for posting this thread. THX
Cheers

John Dunbar
Oh 🙂 You are very welcome!! Yet it is on me to thank you for loads of input and support! I will definitely keep you updated! Cheers mate!

Rui S
Hi John,
I've posted another photo from a 313, in the "MT"
I can't guarantee that It's the one from the S.PZ.Abt 501, but it's interesting because shows the turret back.
Cheers