WW2 German Vehicle colors

[itifonhom]

Hi everybody,
I got some questions on WW2 German vehicle colors. I see that most of them are painted in Panzer Grey, Desert Yellow, Red Brown and Leaf Green in various combinations. Also sometimes comes the White wash over all. I can see that sometimes the vehicles were painted panzer grey and THEN desert yellow. Others seem to be painted desert yellow from the factory and the camo of brown and green added later. Also I read somewhere that late war vehicles were just painted with red primer and then yellow, green even grey was added. I can understand that grey was the main color at the start of the war and white wash at Russia during the winter. The problem is, I can´t organise all this practises in my head, how Germans painted their vehicles during WW2. Anyone out there that can help me understand what color, what time at which front?? Thanks in advance........

....Anastasios.....

[[BGF]Nimrod6]

http://www.panzerworld.net/colours.html
http://www.missing-lynx.com/panzer_facts.htm
http://www.panzertracts.com/PZfacts.htm
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/articles/camo.htm
just the top 4 from google
http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=vehicles+color+german+camouflage&spell=1

[T140]

Oh boy, have you opened a can of worms :D
Seems to be about the biggest source of debate at shows from what I have seen.
Whilst there are definate dates as to when factory standards changed, there is lots of scope regarding the applications made in the field using concentrates. These would have been thinned with petrol etc and as such shades would have varied a lot, as would "design" with no doubt some degree of artistic licence from time to time by the crews.

[David Diaz]

This is a good book if you are just starting out in the world of WWII German vehicle colors.

http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Colors-Bruce-Culver/dp/0853684502/sr=1-1/qid=1170433780/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2013947-5485442?ie=UTF8&s=books

It explains all those things you are asking in a simple way. There are 3 volumes, the first covers basically the colors and methods of application, the second and third deal with markings and insignia, vehicle numbers, etc.

Hope this helps

Dave

[itifonhom]

Thanks a lot for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Anastasios.

[David Diaz]

You are welcome Anastasios,

If you have any other questions let us know.

Dave

[Andrew Hall]

Of course if you're in Germany you could also get Johannes Deneckes 'Tarnanstriche des deutschen Heeres 1914 bis heute' published by Bernard & Graefe Verlag. An interesting book.

Andrew

[itifonhom]

Now that I think about it, I got just another question. After Feb 43 that dark yellow applied as base color, has the bare metal been primed prior to the yellow coat???

Regards, Anastasios.

[Panzergrenadier]

Yes, red primer, then yellow base coat.;)

Siim

[armor fiend]

The Dunkelgelb pain I have (Model Masters Dunkelgelb 1943) seems a lot darker than the yellow I see a lot of armor pieces here (and in museums). The museums I don't worry too much about, but you guys, with your fastidious attention to detail, you guys I worry about.

So what's the deal? Am I making my tank too "green" when it should be a nice, light sandy color?