"12th SS, Tank Camo patterns, Ardennes" Topic

Hi folks: Getting ready to paint Panthers, Jagdpanzer IVs and Jagdpanthers of 12th SS for Battle of the Bulge.

3-color camo (yellow, brown, green) seemed pretty standard from Dec 16 thru Dec 21 or so….

Question: Was the Base Coat of these Red (rotbraun) and then Green and Dunkelgelb added on or
was it Base Coat of Dunkelgelb with Green and Red added on? thx, Dan

In case you haven't seen this before:

"In mid-September 1944, vehicles were ordered to not receive the dunkelgelb base. Instead, camouflage was to be painted sparingly directly on top of the red oxide primer. It is unclear whether this meant that the camouflage paint was to fully cover the vehicles' surface, or if the red oxide primer was intended to remain visible. On 31 October 1944, more elaborate camouflage in dunkelgelb, rotbraun, and olivgrün began being applied at the factories over the red oxide primer. Furthermore, dunkelgrau could be used if dunkelgelb was unavailable. Despite this order, there has never been any evidence that dunkelgrau was actually used.

On 20 December 1944, it was ordered that a dunkelgrün base, with a hard-edge pattern of dunkelgelb and rotbraun, should be used."

link

Bovington has at least one example of a tank camouflaged with a hard-edged pattern with the red oxide still showing, which they insist is authentic.

For myself,I follow broad periods only. Bad enough having to maintain three German armies for WWII without having to repaint them for individual campaigns.