Laufschützer MG34 - to strip, or not to strip?

[Kohima]

I’ve had this hanging around for many decades and finally located the date and maker stamp on it, after a bit of de-gunging; beq = Framo-werke GmbH, Hainichen, Sachsen, 1943.

A quick tour of the interweb revealed a number of these surfaced a while ago and all seem to bear the same markings. Presumably, a batch was released after post-war use by a foreign army, having been overpainted in very nice ‘German-looking’ grey.. which suits my 1939 MG in an early-war setup.
My question is, should I strip it back to the dunkelgelb (which appears pretty intact), or keep as is?
Looking forward to your thoughts,
Many thanks,
Rob

[BlackCat1982]

Depends whether its worth the risk if there is nothing under the green overpaint on the outside. You might either try a small area to see if anything remains or leave as is. Personally I would leave it.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Leave it as is.

It is original and tells a story.

We already have enough messed around with militaria.

Cheers, Ade.

[Kohima]

Couldn’t agree more, gents.
Do we know the origin of the grey paint? I know dunkelgelb is a primer/base coat anyway, to be overpainted as required, and always wondered if this was a period job.

[BlackCat1982]

I think it might be period feldgrau.

[Kohima]

Then it’s definitely staying!!
It certainly has the feldgrau look about it, possibly with a hint of blue in some lights. I know the Luftwaffe was directed to retain blaugrau on its vehicles, particularly on airfields and garrisons, so it would make sense to extend that to other pieces of equipment.

I’ve seen a few of these stripped back, presumably in the hope of finding some sort of fancy camouflage scheme..

Many thanks again for your sage advice,
Rob

[BlackCat1982]

Nice to see yours has got the original strap too.