"German Camo... same for every vehicle in the unit?" Topic

Pretty much what the title says. If I paint a Sd.Kfz. 251 platoon or a Panzer IV platoon and so on, each vehicle must have exactly the same camo scheme? I ask because tritonal schemes can vary a lot between them. Thank you!

Depends on the unit. If it has just been issued new vehicles, they would probably be in the same camo scheme. If the unit has been in the field for a while, then it could have a variety of camo schemes.

If you mean winter camo, wasn't that applied in the field? Not much standardization there.

The photographic evidence rarely encompasses more than a platoon so a lot of extrapolation is required. Given that camouflage schemes were generally applied to the basic Dunkelgelb with brush or spray in the field there was most likely a great deal of variation even within a unit.

For my models (20mm at 1:1 scale) my rule of thumb is to have platoons to each have the same scheme on their vehicles. At company level, the platoons would have the same basic colours but a slight variation to represent 'individual effort'. I try to make different battalions quite different.

Hope that helps.

In theory, camo schemes were within the remit of the company commander, so if all the vehicles were painted at the same time, then you'd expect to see each company the same. Obviously factory deliveries, replacements from workshops etc might be different.

Company COs might be overridden of course. I recall reading about one unfortunate Tiger Company CO who'd had all his Tigers painted in a ludicrous zebra stripe scheme, and was chewed out by the Battalion CO and had to repaint them all.

In the British Army this sort of thing is generally handled at brigade level, so it is possible some German units standardised at battalion or even regimental level.

There is also a difference between 'identical' and similar in terms of mix of tones, shapes etc.

I would think that you would be fine keeping the base colors the same. Dunkelgelb with red brown or green, or red brown & green. The exact patterns would not have to be the same.

I'd expect to mostly have the same overall scheme within a company, but nothing like the finicky uniformity the US Army insists on today. As noted, units are reorganized or merged, and replacements arrive in mid-campaign. If you want something different, it can certainly be justified.

I think I'd want all my vehicles to look EXACTLY THE SAME AS EACH OTHER.

Gives the enemy a harder time counting them!

Most cammo was applied in the field. When you must camo a line of vehicles by a certain time, the guy with the air brush or mop won't have the time to match exactly the same! (Human error!) What do you want Sarge? Fast, accurate or complete? Pick 2.

In the case of WWII Germans, the paint came in tubes of paste where they would have to mix with water, turps or maybe even diesel or gas! Imagine how inconsistent each batch of color must have been!

In all cases, the patterns objective was to make the outline of the vehicle to be difficult to see at a distance because the uniformity of it's silhouette would be disrupted-making targeting them more difficult by the enemy.

To add to the subject, in "Tank Combat in North Africa" by Thomas L. Jentz, on page 88, there is a photo of the first DAK PzKfw III H lost to a mine with the caption, "By this time (d 24 Mar 1941), "RAL 8000 Gelbbraun had been applied over the basecoat of RAL 7021 Dunklegrau". The paint does not cover the entire tank- looks streaked on over the factory applied RAL 7021 gray. No apparent attempt to create any discernable pattern- more like make it break up the outline of the tank.