As I said previously, I liked the look of the paint scheme in this build. However, I couldn’t very well just copy it! Even so, I went with the idea of a partial “battleship disruptive” pattern, together with a splinter-like scheme for the turret. Just to complete the variation I painted the wheels alternatively green and brown, copying the sometimes paint scheme on a Hetzer. I am not sure that this overall scheme makes much sense, but then again the entire vehicle doesn’t and you are left to come up with pretty much anything. If I had had more patience, I would have tried something closer to a German precursor to the colour scheme of the British Army’s Berlin Brigade, which makes sense in an urban environment. However, I thought I’d wait until the Takom Chieftains come out to try that.

Primer: Tamiya “Fine Surface Primer” (white) spray can

Base coat (Maus): A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-4 “Yellow Green” and Tamiya XF-55 “Deck Tan” in a 1:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Base coat (Ratte AA turrets): A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-4 “Yellow Green” and Tamiya XF-55 “Deck Tan” in a 1:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Camouflage (Ratte main turret): A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-4 “Yellow Green” and Tamiya XF-55 “Deck Tan” in a 1:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner). The, following masking, a mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-61 “Dark Green” and Tamiya XF-3 “Flat Yellow” in a 3:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Base coat (Ratte hull): A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-63 “German Grey” and Tamiya XF-2 “Flat White” in a 2:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Stripes (Ratte hull): A mixture of 90% Tamiya XF-1 “Flat Black” and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner) and a mixture of 90% Tamiya XF-2 “Flat White” and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner) was sprayed in consecutive stripes.

Wheels (Ratte) – colour 1: A mixture of 90% Tamiya XF-64 “Red Brown” and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Wheels (Ratte) – colour 2: A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (Tamiya XF-61 “Dark Green” and Tamiya XF-3 “Flat Yellow” in a 4:1 ratio) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya lacquer thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).

Details:

• AA guns: Vallejo Model Color “Black” 70950
• Tracks (Maus): Vallejo Panzer Aces “Track Primer” 304
• Tracks (Ratte): A mixture of 90% Tamiya acrylics (XF-84 “Dark Iron”) and 10% Tamiya X-22 Clear in Tamiya X-20A thinner (2:1 paint mixture to thinner).