Hi all, I know its not camouflage & markings, but I need some help. I have built a model of the Mark I prototype "Mother" my question is what colour do I now paint it???
"Mother" underwent a succession on marking changes during her career. Ernest Swinton described her as "grey" during her initial trials. Photographs show that the underside bow plate was painted white, as were the lower, inner faces of the front horns where they met the bow plate. Perhaps this was done to enhance the observation of ground clearance. The tank was camouflaged by Solomon J. Solomon in June 1916, and was photographed in this scheme in the winter of 1916/17, by which time her tail wheels had been removed. By the time of the Oldbury transmission trials of March 1917, she had reverted to a monochrome grey or brown, with a longitudinal red stripe. She may well have operated without sponsons during the trial. Mother was photographed in this state years after the conclusion of the war.
A Daimler petrol-electric transmission was fitted to Mother for the Oldbury trials. An appendix to Albert Stern's "Tanks 1914 -1918 The Logbook of a Pioneer" states that the tank equipped with this type of drive had a red stripe (the appendix seems to be the briefing notes for the trials). I would agree, Hugh, that the stripe appears white in the photo. I believe that the photo was taken a number of years after the war, and it is possible that the stripe had faded by that time.
