Painting German Armor

I couldn't  have said it any better Hans.  Perfectly stated.

do real AFVs actually take on the same kind of colour shifting?

In a word, no...

That's pure artisic license, since most guys that do that seem to be trying to recreate the lighting in a particular photograph and to also add their own artistic "look"...  I don't see it that way... Nor do I find mono-chromatic finishes "boring", other than for the reason that they are supposed to be "boring"...  Combat vehicles are not supposed to attract attention to their lines and shapes, and crews go to great lengths in order to hide those shapes and lines...

Just go look at your parked  car under various lighting conditions and times of day... YOU know what color it actually is, yet as the light changes, so do the "shades" of color...  Yet nothing has actualy changed on the vehicle...

Frankly, the only way that it looks good to my eye is in a shadow-box diorama, where the lighting is controlled and the viewpoint restricted... Otherwise, it looks like what it is... Dfferent shades of color applied here and there...  That's fine if your going to paint something that has three dimensions, but your primary method of displaying it to others is to show it in two dimensions, i.e., a photo...  Otherwise, let the ambient light do its job, I say....  Lotta times it looks even worse, since the room light it was painted in isn't what it's displayed in... But it does look great in photos though, I admit...

While figures often need shadows and highlights added, a scale tank or other AFV doesn't need that kind of shading...  The result of painting shadows on vevicles is rather "Comic book-like" art in my humble opinion... But if you enjoy doing, that's ok... Just be aware of the fact that ya ain't fooling me, lol..

Good morning guys,

I have to agree with plastic junkie that building and painting a monotone German Grey vehicle is very enjoyable.

I enjoy playing around with my colours and adding blacks and blues to alter the final tone of each grey build so no two are the same.

I'm just getting to grips with cammo schemes now but a few times I've had to completely re-cover my scheme and try again (and again) in some cases as I just haven't been able to get it to 'work'.

I've definately leant that cammo schemes need a lot of forward planning before you even think about breaking out the air brush. Just going for it never works (for me at least)!

ATVB

Ben

Thanks for the replies, links, advice, etc. If some camo jobs were really that improvisational, maybe mine isn't so bad. LOL!  Thanks.

I find that German camo can only look good if it's properly weathered, otherwise it looks too out of place and new.  After i apply the camo I "mist" the whole tank in a slightly lightened version of the base color, this helps tone down the camo and also makes it look faded.  After that I apply many oil washes of Lamp Black and Burnt Siena.  Also I try not to over-think the camo pattern, I just look at some pic's of the real ones as they appeared on the battlefield and go from there.  As others have already said..  There is no real rules for German camo patterns, so as long as it looks natural and weathered, it should look good.  Of course all this is just my 2 cents, but I think well done German camo looks really good.  Even more so with the King Tiger seeing that most of them were painted with it or white washed.    

Try to get following publication:

WEHRMACHT - HEER "Camouflage Colors 1939 - 1945, written by Tomas Chory, publ. by Aura Design Studio Olomouc, published in 2000, ISBN 80-902634-1-0

it might be difficult to get one issue, however it's best choice caused by color-chips inserted and all necessary explaination in english language as well as a table of color hues.

You will also find the 4 different variants of  "Dunkelgelb".

Good luck

Also the development of German Camouflage Patterns are explained in color scheme.

As with any hobby that involves individual expression and artistic elements, you're going to get a wide spectrum of what people interpret and apply to their finishes. There's no single "correct" way to finish a model in terms of overall look...there are certain constraints in terms of accuracy vs. what-if that of course are held to in general (no one would legitimately claim that an electric blue Sherman in high gloss would be considered realistic even if it might look very appealing to the builder for example) around color choices, schemes/patterns, etc relative to the period in which the vehicle normally served.

This is interesting with monotone armor schemes. I read about top modelers breaking up single colour finishes in many magazine articles and read about a lot of modelers doing it on here. Although monotone schemes may be quite boring and lifeless left alone, do real AFVs actually take on the same kind of colour shifting? I ask this because I seem to have found a double-edged sword on this topic. While serious modelers strive to model vehicles and dioramics (fictional word - buildings and accessories etc in dioramas) as historically accurately as possible they still use artistic license to make paint jobs, especially monotones,  and finishes more interesting and aesthetic.

If there are no available or sufficient references then fair enough. But if references indicate that monotone finishes, let alone any finish, are actually quite stark and lifeless (perhaps something similar to the early stages of tried-and-true weathering techniques) then is there a contradiction between accuracy/physics and artistic license?

I must disclaim that I have little knowledge of what real AFV's look like in the field, especially on anything pre-Operation Desert Storm back in 1991. However, I do watch documentaries on WWII and more modern stuff and also have a couple of books with quality pictues of AFV's. Now it's probably just me or the pictures and footage that I have seen, but I'm sometimes not seeing a close resemblance in colour shifting between the real deal(s) and high-quality models. I must also disclaim that I am not putting anybody's work down. I have seen a lot of military models and dioramas on this forum, much of it WWII, the vast majority is very good and some of it is brilliant.

This is interesting with monotone armor schemes. I read about top modelers breaking up single colour finishes in many magazine articles and read about a lot of modelers doing it on here. Although monotone schemes may be quite boring and lifeless left alone, do real AFVs actually take on the same kind of colour shifting? I ask this because I seem to have found a double-edged sword on this topic. While serious modelers strive to model vehicles and dioramics (fictional word - buildings and accessories etc in dioramas) as historically accurately as possible they still use artistic license to make paint jobs, especially monotones,  and finishes more interesting and aesthetic.

If there are no available or sufficient references then fair enough. But if references indicate that monotone finishes, let alone any finish, are actually quite stark and lifeless (perhaps something similar to the early stages of tried-and-true weathering techniques) then is there a contradiction between accuracy/physics and artistic license?

I must disclaim that I have little knowledge of what real AFV's look like in the field, especially on anything pre-Operation Desert Storm back in 1991. However, I do watch documentaries on WWII and more modern stuff and also have a couple of books with quality pictues of AFV's. Now it's probably just me or the pictures and footage that I have seen, but I'm sometimes not seeing a close resemblance in colour shifting between the real deal(s) and high-quality models. I must also disclaim that I am not putting anybody's work down. I have seen a lot of military models and dioramas on this forum, much of it WWII, the vast majority is very good and some of it is brilliant.

Oh, and back to the original question - yes... there are many times that I wish I had left the model in the base color, simply because I like the 'clean lines' that it presents. 

tigerman

It depends on the year. Early war panzers 39-42 were dark grey.

Not to open up a whole can of 'whoop azz' here, but that is not entirely accurate...

From 1938 - mid-1940 German armor was painted in 2/3 grey and 1/3 brown.  Those black and white photos we see that 'appear' to be all grey are likely a consequence of the two colors being similar enough that they cannot be distinguished in black and white photos.  In mid-1940 the order came done specifying overall grey, until 1943 when the three tone patterns begin to appear.

For a better timeline, here is a link:

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=152502&page=1

I would have to agree with the comment that is can be harder to get a good looking monotone color scheme.  A lot more attention to washes and filters etc is needed.

Also agree with the comment about neatness.  The field applied paint was really a mess sometimes.  I have played around trying to get it to look right but so far my attempts look out of scale as i think many tend to look like.

Would love to see the pic of the car on the 234.

I find the earlier Panzer Gray plain scheme more difficult to break up the single color tone than the later multi cammo schemes. The single Gray scheme takes a bit more panel tone variation and filtering to make it look interesting, but it still fun to tackle.

Most cases it was the discretion of the crew, the campaign they fought and how 'artistic' they chose to be. In a reference book I have it shows a crew spraying their King Tiger with a spray gun hooked up to the tanks air compressor.

The later in the war as unit cohesion and military uniformity broke down the camouflage patterns became more bold and individualistic. Given air anti-tank measures and attacks were their greatest threat they realized a 70+ ton tank could not hide with mere paint alone, hence the use of foliage in rural areas and one reference photograph shows a Panther crew using debris in a urban environment. Hiding their vehicle in a alley under it. 

One photograph of a 234 half track shows a civilian car on top to disguise the half track from the air! 

Basically find a reference photograph and go from there, if entering a contest the photograph will justify your decision and camouflage scheme.   

It depends on the year. Early war panzers 39-42 were dark grey. Easy enough. Latter war has the multi-color camo. I agree. I do have a tough time with "guessing" where it goes on the top, front, and back, as most drawings only show side views. One thing I know is that the patterns in many cases are sloppier then we modelers portray. We opt for very clean and coherent patterns, when most I've seen are much more random and splotchy.

I've seen modelers do latter war camo in base, but it's best to check you references unless you're not a stickler for accuracy.