"German AFV Winter Camo" Topic

Ok we know that come November the whitewash was applied.
Question I have is did they take off the green/brown camo (as it was field applied with water/gassoline) or did they whitewash over it?

Would that mean they had to apply more coats of whitewash?

The pictures I have seen of models tends to be white over plain dunkel and the B&W photos I have seen do not help.

Anyone got a photo with 3 tone showing under the white?

Cheers for any help
TT about to embark on KG Bake!

EDIT Have found this colorised photo?
link

I imagine they whitewashed over the paint underneath.

No time, or supplies to remove other paint.

Perhaps if they didn't have enough for the full tank, the darker colors would get the whitewash, since the other might blend in to represent the ground/dried grass, etc.

Don't know why they would take the time to remove the camo paint, since it was field applied in the first place.

I can't speak for 100% of German tank crews, but I can definitely say that the majority did not remove the underlying camo paint before applying the white paint or whitewash. I have read several accounts of crews in the field applying the white paint, but not a single account of removing the camo, whether it was applied in the field or at the factory.

With everything else that was going on for German tank crews as winter approached, I suspect that any commander who insisted that his crew remove the camo before applying the white paint would be fragged in short order.

Yeah thats what I figured jpattern2 – so those models with white over dunkel must be poetic licence or newly delivered tanks that had not had time to get their 3 tone camo?

That would be my guess, yes.

There is a picture, in the Airfix guide to German tanks, showing a Marder II crewman applying whitewash over the existing camo scheme, using a bucket and brush.

Blast! This just added another level to my project for the year. Or perhaps I can claim that the vehicles in question came to the unit during the winter and got white washed right away.

Of course, if the tank was new and did not yet have the camo field-applied to it, the white wash would go on over just the basic color (gray, tan, or whatever). Also, I doubt if it was applied until the snow actually fell.