"Volksarnee T-72 & T-55AM2 paint scheme " Topic

I'm undecided on the color scheme for my 21x T-72M's and 30x T-55AM2's. The three-tone camo featured by Battlefront seems to be the no-brainer choice because it looks so cool, but it wasn't adopted by the NVA until the late '80s.

OTOH plain green is more accurate for the Team Yankee timeframe and would look more uniform with all the Soviet vehicles I have already painted in green. I intend to use my BMP's and BTR's plus other support vehicles for both my Soviets and East Germans so only numbered them without any other distinguishing nation-specific markings or insignia.

I'm leaning towards plain green for the sake of uniformity but the camo just looks so tempting. Help me decide please!

Plain green looks good to me.

Straight green looks so….Eastern bloc! Go with it!

sehr geehrter Kamerad:

Please remember that camouflage is a decadent western plot invented to entice the people to waste production capacity on making more colors of paint and dye! One color is plenty to identify our vehicles and protect them from the elements!

Moreover, if the capitalist running dog armies should make the grave mistake of deciding to attack our democratic republic, it will be completely unnecessary to hide the serried rows of our mighty tanks from them.

Really, should we not rather paint our tanks red and let them see the color of the new dawn?

With collegial best wishes, I remain

etc. etc.

Great answer Oberlindes Sol LIC!

Great answer Oberlindes Sol LIC!

Indeed. The best answers are the ones spiced with humor.

Thanks everyone. Not a single vote for camo. Plain green they shall be. I also found this discussion on Reddit which sealed the deal: link

Of particular relevance are the following:

The NVA (National People's Army) adopted a 3-tone camouflage scheme on March 1, 1988 which was officially written down in the K 052/3/016 manual that consisted of

•TGL 2425 Olivgrün (olive green) as base colour,

•TGL 0229 Beige,

•TGL 0456 Braun (brown).

However this was very quickly revised and an updated paper (glued inside existing manuals) was issued on May 12, 1988, now with

•TGL 2425 Olivgrün (base colour as before),

•TGL 2403 Dämmergrau (dusk grey),

•TGL 2402 Schwarzgrau (black-grey)

Lastly, it should be mentioned that the camo scheme was never widely adopted. I read somewhere that less than 0.05% (yes, 0.05%, not 5%) of the entire vehicle fleet was ever camouflaged which seems reasonable considering the troops only had about two more years. Likewise, probably no or almost no vehicles were ever painted in the initial green/beige/brown scheme since it only existed for two months.

So (a) it wasn't introduced until mid to late 1988 and (b) less than one half of 1 percent of the vehicles were ever painted in camouflage.

According to Wikipedia, East Germany had 162 T-72M's and 136 T-72M1's. So at most the NVA had 15 of this type in camouflage.

As for T-55AM2's, only 300 were upgraded to this variant from the 2,100 or so T-55's they had, so again we're looking at no more than 15 in this camo scheme while the remaining 99.5% were in plain green.

It seems that Oberlindes Sol LIC is correct. camouflage is the province of capitalist pigs.

Wow, only like 30 tanks in that camo?

Guess basic Russian Green is the color. Unless there was a different green on East Germans versus Russians?

Unless there was a different green on East Germans versus Russians?

I've seen two different shades of green on DDR tanks, one darker than the standard Soviet green. Both should be acceptable.

Now I wonder if the "Normandy camo" vehicles featured in TY's upcoming Czechoslovak People's Army is any more common? I couldn't even google a pic of it other than the BF studio painted ones.

Well, I like the plain green too, generally.

However, it is possible to add in a mix, if desired, for a bit of fun, eye candy, etc., etc..

Perhaps a platoon or company of the camo'd ones, for your scout platoon, or elite unit. Then again, perhaps they're just the latest delivery from the rear area.

Yeah, I'd do a camo'd platoon for my scouts.

TBH i think they have just used multi-colour cam on some AFVs that didn't have it when TY is set , because it looks better than 1 coloured AFVs ?

Variety is the spice of life! 3 tone camo! who cares if only one tank used it. It is historical so it counts. The whole war is a what if.
My NVA is 3 tone all the way.

Joe

Good for you, Joe!

We finally have a vote for camouflage, but I'm still leaning towards plain green because I prefer all the vehicles (not just tanks but also APC's and other support vehicles like SPG's and AA) in one army to be painted in a consistent scheme and don't want to have to get a whole new set of BMP's, BTR's and other vehicles for my NVA army just to do them in camo.

As you can see in the pic below, BF threw consistency/uniformity out the window and simply reused their plain green Soviet BMP's (and other vehicles in other pics used in the Volksarmee book) for the NVA motorized infantry without repainting them in camo or even replacing the incorrect Soviet Guards Army insignia with the proper East German tri-color roundel.

Kinda lazy of them, considering they could have easily painted a few BMP's in the same camo as the tanks.

Agree with you about consistency; either go big or go home! Since I skirmish game and do so in 15mm the most of any vehicle I will need will be 3 so I splurge and have my NVA look different than my Russians.
Halfway down the page is a NVA BTR and at the bottom a T-55AM. link
Wasn't going to do any other Warsaw pact because there would be no reason but if everyone thinks that Czech camo is for real and they have unique APCs might have to give them a go! Someone new for my US Cav to fight.

Joe

The army and OPFOR operations released a number of posters showing various paint schemes used on USSR vehicles including India, Egypt and Syria. So I would not be surprised if those posters have not been posted on the internet at one time or another.
I used to use these and other cano patterns on the sci-fi vehicles that I used to sale in the 1980s.

We are in a hobby where folks have more Pumas than were ever built. I would not worry about having more than the regulation amount of camouflaged tanks.

Now I wonder if the "Normandy camo" vehicles featured in TY's upcoming Czechoslovak People's Army is any more common? I couldn't even google a pic of it other than the BF studio painted ones.

Found this photo from a Czech museum. I have no idea how legit of a representation of the actual Czech tanks in service it is.

Personally I'm tempted by a three-tone green/black/yellow scheme, I've not managed to track down a copy myself to check but I've heard it *claimed* that the Handbuch fur Panzertuppen did authorise the optional use of such a scheme as far back as the 70s, although never used in the peace-time real world I imagine some units might have hastily applied it when they started prepping for war.

Go for it! It is different.

Joe