Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys,
I'm going to be painting some 1/35th scale panzers and I'm trying to pin down the colours for the camo pattern(green,red brown and sand) However after researching it a lot it seems to be very subjective. Paint companies seem to have multiple variations which is just confusing. The one that is causing me the most headaches is the yellow, is it a bright yellow(as in camo not 40k Bad Moon Orks!) or a more beige based yellow? As for the red brown, is it a red brown or a dark red brown?

I'm using Vallejo mainly(brush on), but if someone can recommend other makes that work well it will be appreciated!

Yes, each has their own way of painting and as the war progressed the way tanks was painted changed too, so there is no "definitive" correct way to paint them.

There is guide lines and that is what we use. For the germans that is: dark yellow, olive green and red brown. As a primer the germans used dark red.

Flames of War is the primary stage of battalion style ww2 miniature gaming, and has plenty of painting guides in text format, sutch as this one.
https://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=4335&kb_cat_id=27

Thanks for the link, Frozen Dwarf, I'll have a look

Colour schemes changed a lot during the war, and varied from company to company if not tank crew to tank crew.

If you decide on a tank you want to paint, you can research what period that tank existed, what battles it might have been in, what companies used it, and then what colour schemes might be have been present.

If you've already bought a kit, it likely can be built as one variant, so that would lock in which time period it was used, where it was used, by whom, and what were typical colour schemes there were.

Often I get inspired by a scheme and track down the origins of it, or sometimes I get inspired by a specific historical story and track down what scheme would match that, or sometimes I just want to create something that is historically-plausible but maybe doesn't match any specific vehicle that existed. My Bf109 I painted based on a plane that I saw in the background of a photo (it wasn't even the subject of the photo), I couldn't find any details on the plane and it wasn't visible enough to see everything properly, so a lot of gaps I filled in based on historic plausibility rather than historical accuracy.

Anyway, here's an article on the development of German camo schemes on armour through the war.

https://panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage

FrozenDwarf mentioned the dark yellow, olive green and red brown over a dark red (red oxide) primer, but for much of the war tanks were provided in dark grey and paint was issued to the units for them to apply camo.

I think FrozenDwarf and AllSeeingSkink covered it pretty well.

I've got a bunch of Vallejo paints with names like "german camo green" "german camo brown" etc. which I bought for FOW painting.

There are a lot of guides out there for camo, plus using straight up "Panzer Armor Grey" or "Dunkelgelb" are also straightforward paint schemes depending what you're loooking for. (And of course, they both also have their own debates about exactly what that color is).

When recently painting a Warlord Panzer, and a Rubicon Tiger, I decided to go with the basic grey and then just weather them up. Otherwise, I'd still be researching, and have another analysis paralysis moment.

 Cruentus wrote:
Otherwise, I'd still be researching, and have another analysis paralysis moment.

LOL, I think the research is part of the fun, because you're also learning the history at the same time, but I appreciate some people don't like doing it.

Often if you're buying a kit from a scale model company, it'll come with decals for a specific tank that might have existed in real life, so that can be a good starting point. Or if you don't want to spend a lot of time researching, google the tank name followed by "profiles" and look at the image search, you'll likely find a bunch of images with reference to where that tank fought and stuff.

I've not as much experience with tanks, but with WW2 aircraft there's some really helpful forums with people who are genuine history nerds and can provide a lot of information to fill in gaps in your own knowledge.

One of the great joys of historial wargaming is that you can get a pantone exact match to the lace trim of a Prussian artillery officer of the Fourth Coalition, but WW2 german tank colors are a legit mystery, particularly the yellow ocher Dunklegelb. Part of that is that the color was not consistent over time or from manufacturer to manufacturer (not uncommon for Wermacht supplies) but also because between primitive color photography, fading over time, and the fact that very few of the tanks survived, it's hard to even get a grasp on what the color looked like.

Personally, I go with a yellow tinged khaki, but really any combination of tan, brown, and olive will look good.

Thanks for the replies. The colours I have and considering using are Vallejo Reflective/refractive green, Saddle Brown. The other is an Army painter paint called Banshee Brown, which has a slight beige tint to it. It has good coverage being very opaque, and if it covers in too light I think I can darken it up with either soft tone or strong tone washes.

Another good point is, the weathering.

These machines did not stay clean for long, and various levels of grime will allso eliminate any possible historicly correct colour tone, aslong as you get the dark yellow, olive green and red brown clouse, the weathering will do the rest.

It then is a matter of the paint pattern. As germany went late into the war, effort into painting the tanks by the factory became less important, at the end all they did was to paint a thin layer of dark yellow over the dark red primer, to the point where you could still see the primer thru the yellow.
Factory painted grey was typical of early war, when they hit middle war that is when they began experimenting with camo and by late war, all tanks was delivered from the factory in dark yellow, as camo became an increasing important aspect. But if a german tank was to be used in an urban setting in late war, painting them grey would not be completely historicly wrong.

but as Skink said, it was the actual combat unit that did the final painting based on what theater of operation they was to be used in. There is no right or wrong as history has a huge amount of variations to showcase, and not alot of RL colour pictures from that time was taken.

My other suggestion is that if painting the green and brown on in the thick wavy lines, to airbrush it with a fade, or to stipple it.

Here's my quick and dirty Sturmtiger for an example of stippled camo:



Something I like to consider when dealing with models and camo patterns and colors is that perfectly accurate imitation of historical references is prone to making your model look flat and dull, as that's what real camo does. Lighting, highlights, color transitions and the like that you want on a model to make it look good are going to affect colors enough that I don't find it worth agonizing over which exact shade to use. If you paint to a high enough standard, that exact shade wouldn't shown on quite as much surface area as it would on the real world inspiration.

In my opinion it's cool to do your research and try to get close, but at the end of the day you're painting a model, and a model is made to look good in ways that counter real life camo efforts. It's a good idea to consider this and find the right balance for yourself.

I tend to mix my colours until I get something I think looks good within the range of what seems right for that colour.

As FrozenDwarf said, weathering is important, there's also colour gradations to make a small model pop more, and things like "scale effect" where you typically paint smaller models with more pale colours than their full scale counterparts.

If you're interested in the recipe for my 15mm scale tanks (this is just a copy/paste from my painting notes, this was 7 years ago so I don't actually "remember" what I did, lol).



Note that I was painting a force that would fit in around the Kursk period, it was quite common for tanks around that period to be dark yellow and green, omitting the grey common in earlier tanks and the red-brown common in later tanks.

1. Basecoat with Vallejo 879 Green Brown
2. Leaving 879 in crevices, cover most of model with mix of 879, 913 Yellow Ocre, 847 Dark sand (1:1:1 or 1:1:2) Alternative: Try 4:2:1 Yellow:green:sand for basecoat, 4:2 yellow:green for base and 4:2:2 yellow:green:sand for highlight.
3. Green camo pattern with 890 Reflective Green mixed with 847 (approx 3:1) (alternatively try 007 VMA Olive Green:010 VMA Interior Green, 1:1, it's easier to spray in fine lines)
4. "scratches" painted with 847 slightly darkened with 879 and 913, or possibly just pure for future tanks
5. Scratched off paint done with dark grey (GW Eshin Grey)
6. Airbrush crevices and bottom of Schurzen with Burnt Umber. Do VERY thin, as it will be quite red. Mix ~4 drops Satin Varnish with 1 drop retarder and ~1 drop (maybe less) burnt umber.
7. Add half a drop of black to the above mix and repeat
8. Pin Wash crevices and streak and whatnot with AP strongtone (or devlan mud).
9. Maybe do some streaking with something.
10. Airbrush dust (Rakarth flesh heavily thinned and airbrushed very lightly from above to simulate settled dust).

It's not in my notes, but somewhere in the middle I would have sprayed a varnish and applied the decals.