As a restorer working and owning real original German armour softskins etc and putting them back into operation you are on top of the game when it comes to painting as you have access to the paint on the vehicles.
Depending on the circumstances that the vehicles are recovered from may also change the paint due to corrosion, sun bleaching etc. All my vehicles came from the bottom of a lake and had to be excavated from the soft mud at the bottom and then dragged out. which meant that the paint was preserved and no oxygen had been around to cause decay and chemical change to the paint which the original stuff is lead based.
Our paint supplier is based in Germany and is one of very few companies left who actually made the real paint during the war and is more than happy to delve into their archives and sample stocks and reformulate the paint to acrylic and match it to their original sample batches and chipset book from OKW which has recipes. They also have a letter which can also be found in official archives that congratulates them (and other companies) on keeping the paint batches with a 10% hue match of the original chipset despite all the disruption and shortages.
Here are the original paints agains what AK call Real Color- and should match the original paints.
Picture 1 Dunkelgelb Nach Muster (Dunkelgelb After Pattern).
This was the original colour OKW applied to the RAL institute as RAL 7028. It was seen on vehicles from February 1943 until the end of Operation Citadel (Kursk) in August 1943. THis shade NEVER made it into the register.
Picture 2 Dunkelgelb RAL 7028.
This is the colour which actually enterd into the register as RAL 7028 and came into use at the end of the Kursk offensive (Operation Citadel). This was done after feedback and complaints from frontline troops over the original colour not being suitable for camouflage.
Picture 3 Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 Var. I
Came into use in May 1944 and seen on Tiger I, II, Panthers etc in Normandy during the battle there. Allied intelligence notes that in late May information passed by the Resistance mentions a new base coat similar to one of the Afrika Corps colours. It is similar, but there is a noticable difference.
Picture 4 Dunkelgleb RAL 7028 Var. II
THis colour was tested as part of a new scheme which RAL 6003 Green was the base coat by a Tiger II detatchment during Operation Panzerfaust, October 1944 in Budapest. This scheme (including RAL 8017) was to be adopted in late December 1944/January 1945. It was the last version of RAL 7028.
as an armour modeller I am actually disgusted that model paint companies have not got this right yet, although I am led to believe that Vallejo are working on it!
In essence, RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb is not Dark Yellow at all, but is really a tan or beige/brown colour with a greenish tinge!