German Colors 1940-1945

From a uniform gray to three-color camouflage

The armored vehicles of the Wehrmacht went through two fundamental changes of finish during the war that differ from each other at first glance. Until the beginning of 1943 they left the factories in a uniform dark gray; after that the base became dark yellow, over which the crews sprayed or brushed green and red-brown patches in the field itself. In winter white came into play, thinned so that the rain would wash it off in the spring. These eight cover all three phases.

The breakdown of the palette: dark panzer gray for the early period, dark yellow as the later base, a dark camouflage green and a medium olive for the patches, German red brown, a brown tone for armor, ivory for lightening and an off-white gray for the winter finish and for dusty surfaces.

How to layer: on machines of 1943 and later, dark yellow goes on over the whole surface first and only then come the patches. The difference between a factory and a field finish shows in the sharpness of the edges; in the field they were irregular and were often brushed on. Winter white was never laid on continuously, more in bands with the base showing through in places.

The palette suits tracked and wheeled vehicles, artillery and equally the crates, jerrycans and other equipment the machines carried with them.

The white and the ivory have one more job in these eight. By lightening the base tone you can express the difference between the top of a hull exposed to the sun and the side plates in shadow, which breaks a large surface up visually and rids it of the impression of a uniform spray.