ok tank color experts, were german panthers ever painted good old panzer grey?
thanks, Jeff
no.
All recieved the dark yellow base coat.
maybe—towards the end of the war when they had to use old surplus paint-- it is a possibility [8D]— remote — but possible[}:)][8D]-- treadwell
On October 31, 1944, MNH received instructions to paint Panthers with sparingly painted patterns of Rotbraun RAL 8017, Olivegruen RAL 6003, and Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 applied to the red oxide primer. “If Dunkelgelb wasn’t available, Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 could be used in an extreme emergency, otherwise Dunkelgrau was to be conserved”. -Jentz, Germany’s Panther tank, page 93.
So, use of Dunkelgrau was authorized, but was it ever used? Who knows? Find a photo of a Panther in dark gray and you have found the Holy Grail of Panzers.
However, overall Olive Green is another story;
“On 20 December 1944, MNH reported the list of external Panther components that were to be immediately covered with a base coat of Dunkelgruen RAL 6003 (Olive Green) paint. A camouflage pattern with sharp contours was to be applied using Rotbraun RAL 8017 and Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 paint.” - Thomas Jentz, page 99, Germany’s Panther Tank.
on of the beauties of this hobby is that it is ( in some cases) open to artistic interpretation[8D][^] treadwell
I recall reading somewhere that some of the late war panthers were delivered in red oxide primer to be painted on site. If so that could have lead to a few panthers with red oxide as a cammo color if there were paint shortages. I saw in a thread this past week about panzer gray being applied on some tigers as part of their cammo. References? None that I can remember. Greg
As for the Tiger I’s; there are color paintings/plates interepreting field applied cammo where yellow (and sometimes red-brown too) was applied on top of the existing overall gray of Tigers.