About jeeps and stars...check it out

My understanding about the stars is this, they added the circle around the star for easier reconisition by allied forces the same reason they put the black and white stripes on aircraft for D-Day.

So a plain star would be early war, but keep in mind that jeeps just like other vechicles were repainted often and most likely by a poor dog face that has gotten himself in trouble with his NCO. Which is one of the reasons why it seems that no two vechicles are painted the same way.

So then if my diorama is gonna be about a B-17F crash landed some time in 1941-42 how would it be correct to paint the Jeeps?? with the star only, without the star, or with the star and a circle?? i would like to be as accurate as possible, of course i need a suggestion, what would you do? hou would you do it??

The Circle was added after the north african campaign to prevent mis identification at long range. The white circle was very conspicuous so some units used a yellow circle. I haven't seen any evidence that the circle was used by units not on the european continent but that doesnt mean it wasn't done.

The comon idea that the M18's resemblance to panzers was the reason for the circle is incorrect as M10s had the circle in Italy at least as early as Nov. 1943 and the T70 (M18 prototype) was first tested at Anzio in May 1944 with prod. variants arriving in Sept. 1944.

I would use star only. There were only 3 weeks left of '41 when we were drawn into the war and with a stated time period of '41-'42 it would be a very early war unit and would be before operation Torch (the invasion of Africa).

ok then will do sir, thank you very much! that was avery good advise, y really appreciate it!

You're Welcome, glad I could help.

Are you building the Verlinden Jeep? Let us see the results when you're done! - Ed

Roger Wilco, i also have 2 more SOL jeeps, is not done yet but i am sure someone out here may give me some suggestions about weathering it.....






Tell me what you think fellas!

Nice work Hector .... I'd weather them much the same as the weathering that you did on that tractor. These jeeps are going to be in an airbase setting if I remember correctly, so a light drybrushing and weathering would be good for them too. Heavier weathering would be more appilcable to a Jeep in a combat area.

Yes, they are gonna be in an airbase, what do you think of the tires? the jeep still needs the weathering job but i dont know exactly how to do it, as far as i know they do not get rust ( or did they? ) and i was thinking on fading the paint a little bit but nothing else comes to my mind, any suggestions?

By the way, the dio that i am planning is gonna be a B-17F crash landed in a field somewhere in england in 1942-43, as far as i know there were a lot of rain in those places and the fields didnt have paved runways so i am gonna place my plane in the extreme end of the runway with a broken landing gear, this being the cause of the incident, so i would think that in that place there would be a lot of mud, am i wrong? any suggestion??

I think the tires look good Hector.
As far as the field being muddy it would certainly be a possibility but it's entirely up to you. If the field is muddy, then you're Jeeps and Tractor are going to be muddier too. So it depends on how far you wish to go with the weathering. As far as rust goes, I don't think there would be too much showing on an airfield service vehicle, they lived a more "pampered" life.

Mandrake,

Have you decided on a base or unit for your B-17F? The reason I ask is many of the larger bases DID have paved runways and aprons, so you might not want to go as nuts with the mud as originally intended. As far as the star goes, everyone's pretty much on target there. If its in England, its not gonna have a circle surround.

The 8th AF started daylight bombing from bases in England in October 1942 and continued for a year before appalling losses forced a cessation of ops the following "Black" October. It wasn't until late November/ early December that operations resumed and that was because the P-51 finally arrived in England and provided round trip fighter escort.

Shermanfreak: i wouldnt like to mess with weathering a lot since i dont have much experience in weathering and in resin models, you are right about the airbase vehicles, i forgot about that, and what i am planning is something like this:

or something like this:

and Jon: i was thinking to use a grass runway because i thought that may add some contrast to my crash landed B-17, i know that may be a little difficult but i want to give it a try, i was thinking in doing something like this:
THE CAUSE:


THE RESULT:



And by the way, i am gonna paint my Jeep only with the star, thanks for the suggestion man!