How do we know the colours are correct

[ronnie42]

Two pics colour and b&w, think the green and brown are nearly right but the yellow?

front and rear skirt brown and green ok , more light on middle skirts

Buff might have been wrong choice for tone down.

[HERMAN BIX]

To bring down out of the pot Tamiya German Dark Yellow, I use Deck Tan.
But in all honesty, there is no "right" German Dark Yellow in our scale.
Your Panther looks very good................its yours, you built and painted it, and you are to be proud of it.

[Son of a gun-ner]

Also you have to remember that they used such opposing colours to break up the lines of the vehicle they were trying to blend in to the surroundings.

[jarndice]

Some years back we had a discussion on the Forum about the difference between the Prototypes colours versus the perceived different shade of the same colour on 1/16 Tanks.
I think it was that master of detailing Tom Hugill who pointed out that size has a direct correlation when using the same colour on a full size Tank and a scale one. In other words if it looks right on Bovingtons 131 that identical colour on your Panther will look wrong.
The problem with German Armour of the WW2 period is that apart from "Signal" Magazine and Herr Goebbels propaganda newsreels the use of colour film was very rare so that accurate colour photographs of German Armour are hard to find, most of what we see these days has been "Colourised"and until recently the original colour paint chips were nowhere to be found,
The recent discovery of period paint chips by the staff of the "Tank Museum" puts the "RAL" paint system into some kind of order,
Hopefully one of the model paint makers will produce revised colours based on the true RAL system but with the scale effect taken into account.

[RobW]

Not forgetting the effects of weather and variations during production. We don't always make two batches of paint the same colour now!

[Kaczor]

Smaller the model, lighter shade should be used. If you put colors "straight from the can" model will be too dark.

[General Jumbo01]

Museum repaints can be notoriously wrong too. Same goes for 1940s colour film. The first response was probably the most correct - it's you tank so if you like it it's right!

[ronnie42]

The camera was on the wrong setting. Then i wondered why on lots of WW2 b&w photos of tanks the camo was hard to see almost tones of mid grey. Did they add old engine oil to the yellow paint or are most photos well and truly faded.

[jarndice]

German Tanks in the field were painted by their crews using paint bricks stored in the Tank for application using Brooms and rags, And of course the Bucket was used for that job as well
The paint blocks were broken up and watered down or the rags were soaked in Petrol and the paint was applied that way,
Expecting a showroom paint job is expecting a bit too much considering how the job was done.
Some crews did have access to a spray gun but it was not an issue item.

[43rdRecceReg]

Some years back we had a discussion on the Forum about the difference between the Prototypes colours versus the perceived different shade of the same colour on 1/16 Tanks.
I think it was that master of detailing Tom Hugill who pointed out that size has a direct correlation when using the same colour on a full size Tank and a scale one. In other words if it looks right on Bovingtons 131 that identical colour on your Panther will look wrong.
The problem with German Armour of the WW2 period is that apart from "Signal" Magazine and Herr Goebbels propaganda newsreels the use of colour film was very rare so that accurate colour photographs of German Armour are hard to find, most of what we see these days has been "Colourised"and until recently the original colour paint chips were nowhere to be found,
The recent discovery of period paint chips by the staff of the "Tank Museum" puts the "RAL" paint system into some kind of order,
Hopefully one of the model paint makers will produce revised colours based on the true RAL system but with the scale effect taken into account.

Yes, Shaun, I recall that discussion- and that peculiar phenomenon of a paint (Olive Drab SCC15, for example), looking right on the Bovington tank- and the paint chart; but apparently mismatched on the 1/16 model
This is what I found with the Cromwell mismatch.

Edit: though it's not Tom's colour theory, this little thread has some useful tips in it.
viewtopic.php?f=151&t=22865&p=209308&hi ... h…#p209308