 Editor in Chief Bill   | 09 Aug 2008 8:22 p.m. PST |
Were they left unpainted, or were they painted in 'national' colors? The only color pictures I can find are for reenactors, and those suggest grey guns for Germans… |
| Pictors Studio | 09 Aug 2008 8:39 p.m. PST |
I've seen them done in a German uniform green and that is how I did mine. |
| aecurtis | 09 Aug 2008 10:38 p.m. PST |
Here's an interesting example: picture The cooling jacket and flash hider are clearly green. The tripod is a very weathered green. The receiver is unpainted, but apparently with a corrosion-resistant treatment (like bluing) on the bare steel. Same here, in a well-restored condition: link Note again that the receiver is not painted, but "browned". That's not to say that the receiver *couldn't* be painted, as on this LMG version: picture But that's just for the Maxim MG08. Vickers and others: you'll need to do a little more digging. Eaxample: picture Jacket: dark green. Tripod: olive. Receiver: unpainted. Add a canvas cover to the jacket: even more variation! Allen |
| bsrlee | 10 Aug 2008 12:09 a.m. PST |
Just go to Lancer Barracks at Parramatta (Sydney, Australia)- they have about a dozen 08 Maxims in original condition lying around the museum, complete dowm to the red ersatz leather covers on the pads attached to the sled mounts. Oh, and a variety of interesting British issue gear too. |
| Martin Rapier | 10 Aug 2008 1:20 p.m. PST |
For the MG08 and Vickers, in general the tripod would be painted (grey for German, green for Vickers). The cooling jacket on the Vickers was often dark green and also often had a cover around it, the rest was usually dark gunmetal. The MG08 seemed to have more variation, I based mine on those in the Imperial War Museum which are black all over, both the tripod mount and the MG08/15 although the latter also has a wooden stock. |
| Ditto Tango 2 1 | 11 Aug 2008 8:39 a.m. PST |
I can't imagine the working parts being painted. The paint would burn off. Metal parts of fire arms are "blued" – while I don't know what the process is, it withstands the heat of the action. I would assume such technology was in place in WWI. That's why the picture of the LMG Allen showed just doesn't "look right" to me.
--
Tim |
| aecurtis | 11 Aug 2008 6:53 p.m. PST |
It doesn't look right to me, either, for the same reason, but there it is. It may be a better example of how collectors (and museums, too!) get thngs wrong when "restoring" stuff. I suspect that the WWI technology was in fact black oxide (aka "bluing"). Phosphatizing, trademarked as Parkerizing, had been developed in the c.19th, but was not widely used until WWII. Allen |
| aecurtis | 11 Aug 2008 6:55 p.m. PST |
But then again, how many wargamers have already painted their MGs overall green or some other color. Shouldn;t we leave them some comfort that the receiver *could* possibly be painted?  Allen |
| Martin Rapier | 13 Aug 2008 6:33 a.m. PST |
"how many wargamers have already painted their MGs overall green" Not many I hope, it would just look really odd… |
| cturnitsa | 24 Sep 2008 1:47 p.m. PST |
Although green would be better than, say, a sky blue or a canary yellow. :-) |
