artistic or realistic?

Even when I paint the tools camo color, I do it a shade off (usually darker) and add some wear. I've personally never done US tools bare wood, but would consider doing it with European (German Soviet) tools.

Ron.

Sometimes it looks good to have some color variations on the tank, especially on US tanks. But as the guys already explained, you can do it bothways.

Good luck.

I'm kinda glad this subject came up and I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but the US Army crews painted pioneer tools (shovel, ax, mattock handle, pick, mattock, tanker bar) the camo color before mounting them (track fixture tools ... track jacks... were left bare metal black). I had to paint all of my basic issue tools back in the 70's on M109's and old guys told me they hated painting tools, just seemed a waste of time.
The Army wants everything to be the camo color to help things blend in on the battle feild and I'm sure there are exceptions when unpainted tools were put on vehicles to replace battle or maneuver damaged ones, or to make a newly issued vehicle look 'new' for a parade. However, the old tradition still stands in the army, paint the pioneer tools.
Paint will wear off when the tool is used, so shovels will have bare metal showing (sometimes with a surprisingly high shine) and will rust if not used frequently. Those are some things to keep in mind when painting pioneer tools.
Hope this helps.

Ron.

The way I see it is if the tools are painted the same color as the tank, or if they are painted a seperate color later - Eventually they will be used. That means the paint will come off a metal headed shovel when it is shoved in the ground. A jack may actually be dirtier than the platform it sits on because it was taken off and used in the mud. The paint will come off a tow cable will if it was ever used to pull a vehicle.



I'm not saying which is right and which is wrong, I'm just offering another view point.


It depends on which rationalization you use to do what you think is right or looks good.

Good luck

While I agree with most of the postings here that the tools would be added after the initial painting, it occurs to me whether the tools got painted in the field during the application of camouflage depended on the time the crew had to complete the paint job-- taking the tools off, painting the vehicle, and reattaching the tools would take a lot of time-- and how anal the crew commander was about keeping his tools clean. But when you get right down to it, when the vehicle gets weathered it would be difficult to tell if the tools were painted or not. I have had a lot of experiences being very careful to paint the tools, only to have that care covered over pretty effectively by weathering. So what it comes down to, as I see it, is personal preference.

I don't know for sure about WWII gear, but when I was in the army, on our tanks we always painted the pioneer tools OD or flat black except for a cutting edge on axes and shovels. On my models I paint them with brown handles and metallic gray metal parts, mostly to create contrast and add interest.

I personaly like to have them something different when it still would look good just to have some of the extra details stand out. I figure if I'm going to spend the extra time in putting all the stuff on why not have it seen.

I've painted them both ways. Sometimes I get the accuracy bug up my rear end, or just get lazy, and paint it all the same color. Recently, however, I've been painting the handles wooden, just to try to add some color variation on my monochrome models--all for the sake of creativity and making a kit "look good". At shows, I've never heard of anyone being "gigged" for either scheme (of course, the judging never gets that far...).
The last time I checked, it's still a hobby and quite individualistic. Make it look like you want it to.
Gip Winecoff

A lot of times it depended on which paint job you are talking about. The original factory O.D. would have been splashed on before the vehicle was kitted out, so the tools would be distinctly their own colour. Now when the vehicles got in the field and needed a quick camo job, that's where everything could and sometimes did get sprayed over in the same colour as the camo used.

Joe from what I've heard the Germans tended to take the tools and stuff off before painting but if it's US it usually all OD, even the tires

Eric

Im fairly new to modeling, but mostinstructions say to paint the tools those colors, its very hard to tell prom pictures what colors tolls actually are on the vehicles, but I suspect your right they are probably painted the saem as the vehicle, but it does look better for the model to have some difference in the paint scheme, at least to me