Painting over tools

It all depends really. It was very common for the base and camo color to be painted with the tools already on the vehicle. Alot of Afrika Corp vehicles were painted with tools already fastened.

I will do this from time to time and if I do I usually add chips to it, especially the jack. As for the color of the jack, I know Tamiya's instruction call for their Metallic Grey. But I paint all my tool heads and jacks with Vallejo Black and drybrush in MM Steel. The jack on my Tiger I that is posted shows this.

Cheers

Mo

I agree with Moses, it's a matter of choice. I personally prefer to paint the tools separate for the extra detail they provide but there's nothing wrong with painting over them on the vehicle as is.

I've seen many variations with on-board tools. I believe that tools were almost never painted coming out of the factories, but once the vehicles got to their units several things can happen.

Good maintenance crews, who had plenty of time and the proper facilities would remove most (if not all) tools before applying the unit's camo pattern. However, if time was a factor (or proximity to the front), I'm sure that some crews just painted over those tools that couldn't be quickly removed.

I have seen photographs showing none, some, or all tools painted over. It really depended on the unit, time during the war, and conditions. Your best evidence would be a unit photo if you can find one.

Enjoy your modeling...

Tigerman,

I have some pictures here of German armor where they painted camo over the tools and stuff. But I also have some where the tools were not painted in camo.

I guess the guys are right...it's your choice.

Personally though, I don't like to paint over tools.

I painted the tools for my Firefly separately. I used a mix of Tamiya flat black and royal blue, then drybrushed with metallic grey. I also ran the edge of a sharp #2HB pencil along the edges. I have seen pictures of both types of paint job too. I painted them separately because I wanted to see if I could do it well. No other reason than that.

There is something about painted over tools on a scale model that just doesn't look right to me. I can't help thinking of those monocolor plastic tanks that came with toy army men. However, there are pictures of it, so doing it can be historicall accurate

I prefer not to paint over the tools unless the vehicle has a whitewash for snow camo. I figure they just slathered it all over the vehicle last minute like. Sometimes the tools on board werent original to the vehicle and were sort of picked up along the way. Just my preference.
Ryan

Thank you for your opinions and knowledge. I guess there is no right or wrong, but perhaps time in war and field conditions played a pivitol role.