Zimmerit Some tips and tricks.

[Coen]

A couple of the fellas asked me to put together a bit of a how-to on zimmerit, so here we go.

What is Zimmerit?
Zimmerit was a non-magnetic coating produced for German armored fighting vehicles during World War II for the purpose of combating magnetically attached anti-tank mines, although Germany was the only country to use magnetically adhered mines against tanks in any significant number. It was developed by the German company Chemische Werke Zimmer AG.

The coating was a barrier that prevented direct contact of magnetic mines with metal surfaces of vehicles. It was normally ridged to increase overall thickness. The magnetostatic field decreases very rapidly, with the cube of distance; the non-magnetic coating holds the magnet of the mine too far from the steel of the vehicle for it to adhere.

Zimmerit was applied to some tanks and casemate-style closed-top self-propelled guns and tank destroyers produced from December 1943 to 9 September 1944.[2] It was only rarely applied to open-top AFVs. The rough appearance of the coating gave a distinct appearance, for one type a "shingle-like" look to the vehicles it coated.
Application of Zimmerit was usually done at the factory. The many variations seen in application designs, from the regular ridge-shaped pattern, to a less common waffle-shaped pattern, are mostly related to the factory producing each type of AFV. For example, the waffle pattern was seen almost exclusively on Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. In general, vehicles already in service were not coated with Zimmerit.
Zimmerit was discontinued from factory application on 9 September 1944 and from field application on 7 October 1944.[3] This was due to concerns that projectile impacts could ignite it. These proved false, but the order was never rescinded.[2][3] Applying and drying the paste added days to the production of each vehicle,[1] which was unacceptable as there was a shortage of tanks.
Following the war, the British carried out trials of a similar material on Churchill and Cromwell tanks and some trials were conducted in Canada with a similar material applied to self-propelled guns[4] but it was not implemented. No similar material was used on post-war tanks as the widespread use of man-portable HEAT rockets such as the Bazooka made magnetic mines obsolete.

Ingredients
40 % Barium sulfate - BaSO4
25 % polyvinyl acetate – PVA (similar to wood glue)
15 % pigment (ochre)
10 % Zinc sulfide – ZnS
10 % sawdust

Vehicles with factory-applied Zimmerit
Panzer III
Panzer IV[2]
Panzer V[2]
Tiger I[2] - mid and late production models only
Tiger II[2] - early models only
StuG III
StuG IV - early models only
Jagdtiger - Porsche versions only
Jagdpanther - early models only
Jagdpanzer IV
Brummbär
Sd.Kfz. 251 - very rare


Here's the video that I put together on how I apply it.

[youtube]UPffniASfNI[/youtube]

[Schoof]

i think i am gonna forget wikipedia and start asking Coen-o-pedia for advice

[Coen]

I just spat coffee all over my desk Schoof... hahaha...
you're so full of it buddy hahaha...
That cracked me up.
Very funny buddy.

All that text is from wikipedia... I was just too lazy to write it all out myself.
haha.

[T3hGuppy]

Great video dude will will be giving that a try when I need too.

[Nige201980]

Thanks for this micheal excellent how to

[Coen]

Welcome Nigel, anytime.

[Lego]

Thanks for putting this up. Got a few tanks with the doo doo to do.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Great video
Got to give it a try ones

[ForbesHutton]

The Elefant is missing from the list. It was applied when the remaining Ferdinands where upgraded into Elefants.

[Murad]

great great video, thanks a lot Coen!

just to further add to the subject of zimmerit itself, looks like there were not one single zimmerit but many different patterns used on a variety of vehicles mentioned here: http://www.panzerworld.com/zimmerit and on a couple of different places on the net but to be honest i haven't seen real life pix of anything but the rectangle and the square pattern very very rarely, dunno why...

[Coen]

The panzer IVs, StuGs, and a few panzer IIIs had a couple of patterns, the horizontal line pattern as well as the waffle looking pattern. Panthers as well. I have a book around here with all of the patterns that were used in it.
As for the missing vehicles... I got that list from Wikipedia, it's their fault haha.

I don't think that anyone has a complete idea as to why these patterns were used they way that they were.
I know I'd be interested to know.