1:35 German WWII Notek Rear Lights

A light for driving in a column in the dark

Night moves without lighting were a necessity for German units and at the same time a nightmare for drivers. The rear light introduced for this purpose therefore did not shine like an ordinary tail light. It had two narrow luminous fields whose relative position changed with distance: as long as the driver saw two separate dashes he was far away, and as soon as they merged into one he was getting dangerously close to the machine ahead. It was a simple rangefinder with not a single moving part.

Nothing of this principle is left on an ordinary kit. The body of the light tends to be a solid cylinder with a suggested face, the slots are at most engraved grooves and the lead is drawn as relief on the plate. The model thus carries a component whose purpose a viewer cannot make out even close up.

The accessory returns the shape to its correct form: the face is divided, the outline of the body matches reality, and once it is fitted it is enough to put gloss clear varnish into the slots, so that they light up by reflection. It is fitted at the rear or on a fender according to the particular vehicle, always once the original lug is sanded away.

The recommended painting procedure is the reverse of the usual: first the light surface behind the slots is painted, then the whole body is covered in the shade of the vehicle, and finally the edges are lightened with drybrushing.

Anyone building a column or a scene with several machines will value the fact that the same light appeared across the range of vehicles from armor to trucks. A repeated small thing holds a scene together and says that this is the equipment of one army in one period. It is still good to check the position against a photograph of the particular machine, because the placing differed between types and production series.