I am painting a Schwimwagen. I have decided to try the three color camo pattern. Now I am trying to decide on which brand of paints. I will be trying this with spray cans, as I have not yet made the leap to airbrush.
My local hobby shop carries most of the brands but I did not see the colors as I thaught they should be. Tamiya had a red-brown but it was not the same as what it looked like in the pictures, or is that just me? Which color is best for dark olive green? I am assuming that Tamiya’s dark yellow is a close match to German Dunkelgelb?
Thank you.
The Tamiya Acrylics are outstanding for German 3 Tone Camo: Dark Green (XF-61), Dark Yellow (XF-60) & Red-Brown (XF-64).
To tone them down a bit and to give them a faded look, you can then lightly overspray with Tamiya Buff (XF-57).
I like the Model Master acryls. Remember, the Germans diluted their paints in the field with just about everything and greens for instance would be anywhere from pea-green to a dark green. Same applies to the red browns.
The Tamiya spray cans at my LHS have different color codes. The red-brown is listed as TS-1 and the dark yellow is TS-03. Might they be enamels instead? Or are these the wrong colors?
model masters has what they call ‘africa korps mustard’ in a spray can. it is very close to the real thing. All german armor came from the factory painted mustard. check out The plastic Warrior, this guy has done tons of research on his projects and his specialty is german armor. He has a tips section on his web site about cammo and tells you what paints he uses. His web address is in my profile. check it out it is worth the trip[8)]
Well, the real solution comes down to what you want it to look like. If you can find it, Tamiya’s “Dark Yellow” spray (TS-3) is actually a closer match to the German “Dunkelgelb” used after February 1943 (until 1943, German vehicles left the factory in Panzer Grey). Testor’s #1955 “Afrika Mustard” is OK if you can’t find Tamiya colors (Squadron carries the Tamiya spray colors), but it is actually closer in shade to the 1942 Afrika Braun RAL 8020 used by the Afrika Korps. Tamiya’s Dark Yellow has a greenish cast, which all my research says is more accurate. As for the other colors, Testor’s offers German Camo red-brown and dark green in bottle colors. In real life, the German camo colors were dispensed as a paste, and thinned with whatever was on hand (gasoline, waste oil, even water), and applied with everything from hands to brooms to spray guns. Because of this the shades of the applied camouflage colors would vary so widely there is no such thing as a “right” color. Also, weathering will change the way colors look. Since soft-skinned vehicles like your Schwimmwagen didn’t carry air compressors, as tanks did, it would be just as likely to see a hand-painted camouflage application as a sprayed one. Also keep in mind, a Schwimmwagen would spend a lot of time in water (hence the name… those Germans were so clever), so it’s likely a lot of any camouflage colors would wash off to some extent (especially if they were thinned with water to start with) or at least fade faster, especially below the water line.
The Tamiya spray cans are Lacquers. They are good colors. Color prints can be very different than the actual color.