ATOM Interior colors German Tanks Set

The inside of a German armored vehicle up close

Open hatches are a trap for a model. Once the builder leaves them swung open, the viewer has to look inside, and in there nothing that works on the hull applies any more. German designs of the Second World War had the interior handled practically: the bottom of the fighting compartment was given a red-brown primer coat, because nothing in it was maintained for long anyway, while the walls and ceilings above waist level were painted light, so that the crew could find cartridge cases and tools more easily.

That contrast forms the backbone of the whole set. The red-brown shade matching the RAL 8012 standard belongs on the floor, on the lower parts of the walls, on the ammunition stowage and on the inside of the armor plates. The light ivory of the RAL 9001 standard covers the upper areas and the ceiling; on a model it is worth toning it, because applied neat it looks chalky and takes the depth out of the space.

Fittings, seats and optics

The dark gray of the RAL 7021 standard serves for the instruments, the consoles and the parts taken over from the external equipment. A richer green is ready for the boxes, radios and small units that reached the vehicles from the production program in a different shade from the rest of the compartment. A leather tone captures the padding of the seats, the strapping and the pouches.

The sixth item is a translucent green intended for the glass of the periscopes and for the rear marker light. It is applied in a thin coat over a silver or black base and gives the optics that wet gloss which a matte paint can never stand in for.