I’ve always thought that the Germans used Dunkelgelb as the base colour for their AFV’s from early 1943 right through to the end of the war with Dark Green and Red Brown used as overlaying camouflage colours. And that towards the end of the war they then only used the Dunkelgelb without camouflage because supplies were running low. My models to date have been based on that (other than Panzer Grey and Whitewash schemes of course).
But I’m just reading through “Panzer Vor 1” and there is a statement (page 4) that “in December 1944 orders were sent out directing that all equipment was to receive a base colour of olivegruen RAL 6003. The remaining two colours (dunkelgelb RAL7028 and rotbraun RAL8017 would then be applied at the factory”.
Now I have quite a good library here and I can’t find anything that corroborates that. I hope its true because it allows me some more latitude in authenticity and i quite fancy doing a Panther Ausf G in that sort of livery based on Olive Green base coat…
Has anyone else heard of that from any source other than Panzer Vor?
I like the change as well, I have a Panther F that I am planning on painting overall Olivgrun w/dark yellow and red brown camo. (not sure of the pattern yet). But seeings how the “F” didn’t make it out of the factory, whatever I come up with should be fine.
To muddy the water even further, there’s info to suggest there were overlapping orders towards the end of '44. At the end of Oct '44, the OKH ordered a change of the base colour to Red Oxide primer with hard-edged Olive Green & Dk Yellow disruptive applied over the top, with allowance for Panzer Grey instead of the Yellow. One month later, they changed the orders again, recommending the scheme you mentioned - Olive Green base with Dk Yellow & Choc Brown hard-edged disruptive. Aside from missing-lynx, achtung panzer! also list this.
Gotta weigh in here and say that in the absence of definitive and indisputable evidence, I would say have fun with it, be aware of all the interesting options open to you and realize that nobody alive today is really in the position to tell you with any authority that your model is any more correct/incorrect than theirs might be—although some still will![:(!][(-D]
That actually is one of the beauties of modeling German Armor (and even Luftwaffe aircraft). There were the “official” painting and camo guides, but because much of the work was done in the field (and especially towards the end of the war) there was much “artistic” license taken by the individuals that actually applied the camo.
As long as you stay reasonably within the basic guidelines, you almost have free reign on how you do your camo. [:-^]
Actually…the reverse is true, at least as it relates to armor. In late 1944 and into 1945, vehicles were no longer delivered in their base coat colors and camo field applied. They were instead given factory applied paint schemes (fairly uniform in pattern and design as a result and hard-edged vs. soft) in compliance with the orders mentioned in previous posts.
There exists this general impression that “at war’s end” things had come totally unravelled when the opposite is true for the most part. Factories had their assembly lines running right up to the moment they were captured and the army continued to function as cohesive units right up to the surrender.
In the end, it’s true, we are dealing with a subjective art form and if you choose to go the “artistic license” route and that makes you happy, more power to you, lots of room for that. If the interest is in accurate portrayal within the art form, then it’s a little more constraining…particularly if you are dealing with a specific vehicle, unit, or timeframe. [;)]
True, there was that brief period with factory applied (and very uniform) camo patterns, which is surprising considering the extreme pressures that German industry was under during that phase of the war. [:O]