Further dilemmas of an amateur tanker...

[Tim Hall]

I read somewhere, and I don’t know how true it is, that vehicles received in the desert were sometimes still olive and that they would spray engine oil on and then throw sand over the top.

That's a good point. I have always had my doubts about the Caunter scheme, having not seen much in the way of contemporary photographic evidence to support it. A tank in museum finish is not what I would call definitive evidence. A lot of research illustrations tend to overlook the effect of terrain, namely dust, on vehicles which on a black and white photo makes them look a lot lighter in tone than they actually were. General Orders and War Office regs are all well and good but they only present an ideal. The reality of an AFV's appearance in theatre depends on climate and whatever personalisations the crew add to it. Just as Royal Warrants are often heralded as what troops should look like, they ignore the soldiers personal variations to uniform, local adaptations etc. The "official" ideal seldom represents the reality.

[Etranger]

The Matilda photos were simply an example of the effects of light, camera settings upon what we see, chosen because there are a lot of photos of that tank

Tim, you hit upon one of the reasons why Caunter disappeared, a coat of dust gave better camouflage, but negated the "dazzle pattern" aspect of the scheme.

There were some vehicles that didn't get repainted for a long while. I came across a picture of FAT (Morris Quad) from late 1943, still in Caunter. Most 'Caunter' painted vehicles seemed to disappear by 1942, destroyed, discarded or just repainted.

[goat major]

When I’m do my desert forces I’m doing Caunter. It’s too pretty not to !

I’m impressed that this thread has lasted 4 pages and hasn’t derailed into what shade of green were British tanks really painted...

[Jeremy]

I want to do Caunter as well. Don’t know if my skills are up to it!

[Norman D. Landings]

So, to do the aerial mounts that sit on the sloped rear panels of the crusader turret, I took some out-of-date chemical reagent packs - levered the outer casing apart - used the ‘socket’ bit of the pin and socket system which keeps the reagent strips in place - chamfered the end so it would sit on the aforesaid sloped panel - filled the socket with miliput - pushed a plastic brush-bristle in there - and glued it to the side of the turret.

The wrong side of the turret.

[Jeremy]

God that sounds like hard work

[grizzlymc]

Particularly to have your aerial on the wrong side.

What's wrong with brush bristles or stwetched spue?

[Etranger]

So, to do the aerial mounts that sit on the sloped rear panels of the crusader turret, I took some out-of-date chemical reagent packs - levered the outer casing apart - used the ‘socket’ bit of the pin and socket system which keeps the reagent strips in place - chamfered the end so it would sit on the aforesaid sloped panel - filled the socket with miliput - pushed a plastic brush-bristle in there - and glued it to the side of the turret.

The wrong side of the turret.

You'll find that there was a fair bit of variation in position so don't sweat it.