RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Per title, did the Germans use three-tone woodland camo nets during WWII? As in, green, brown, black?

No easy answers to that one. Plenty of WW2 surplus sites sell German 'Flecktarn', 'Splittertarnmuster, etc.,' patterned bits of Uniform, Tents, Groundsheets; but not camo netting. I found a site with Allied Camo netting, but after almost 80 years, it was looking pretty faded.No mention, so far, of that pattern for camo netting on armoured vehicles... Much of the online material relates to Post-war Bundeswehr kit.
More digital digging required..

One possibility, is that netting would only to have needed to be plain brown, or plain green in colour, (or tan), as the Tanks, and many other vehicles themselves were already painted with camouflage. Seems logical, but could easily be wrong. What they used for 88 mm anti-tank guns is another matter.

The reason I'm asking is because I have some three-tone woodland camo netting lying around and am wondering whether it would look too out of place on a JP.

Lert wrote:The reason I'm asking is because I have some three-tone woodland camo netting lying around and am wondering whether it would look too out of place on a JP.

Not if you don't want it to..

The way I look at it, without enough information on the subject, and if YOU like the look, what does it matter? Would a three tone camouflage net look out of place to you?

I don't think there are 'rules' really here.

The Germans supplied the tanks in plain dark yellow with green and brown paint to be applied, so while there were official patterns, who is to say that nothing different got done. Netting was there to provide some camo, but the crew could stick whatever they wanted into it to try and break up the outline.

An enterprising tank crew could have woven bits of cloth into a plain net and daubed them with surplus paint to create a camo effect.....and who could say it didn;t happen...just because it's not in a book or got photographed.

As long as it is 'sympathetic' and replicates something that could have been done...why not!

I agree with PAK,
Just because the book does not say it did not happen officially does not mean it did not happen unofficially,
We had this discussion some time back with reference to MG34s being fitted to the cupolas of early Tiger 1s and Panzer 4s,
Officially they did not have them BUT there are photographs that clearly show that they did.
The amount of field modifications carried out by both sides in WW2 is a constant source of surprise.
The Hedge cutters fitted to the front of M4 Sherman's to get through the "Bocage" in Normandy were devised and fitted in the field by American engineers,
The extra armour and spare tracks that were fitted to Panzer 4s were field Modifications,
The MG34 Cupola Mounts fitted to Panzer 4s and early Tiger 1s were done in the field,
Almost every Tank carried boxes of Paint that when mixed with liquid would be painted on the Tanks to aid Camouflage and there is no reason why a resourceful crew would not add additional colours to their scrim nets to make it more in keeping with the location the Tank was in.
A Camo Net with spring green and earth colours would be worse than useless in an Autumn hedgerow setting unless the crew did some modifications of there own.
And most important of all, It is your Tank and you can do what you want with it.
He who must not be named would be laughing out loud at this discussion as anyone who saw his take on Tank finishes would know,
Now they were truly original.

jarndice wrote:I agree with PAK,
Just because the book does not say it did not happen officially does not mean it did not happen unofficially,
We had this discussion some time back with reference to MG34s being fitted to the cupolas of early Tiger 1s and Panzer 4s,
Officially they did not have them BUT there are photographs that clearly show that they did.
The amount of field modifications carried out by both sides in WW2 is a constant source of surprise.
The Hedge cutters fitted to the front of M4 Sherman's to get through the "Bocage" in Normandy were devised and fitted in the field by American engineers,
The extra armour and spare tracks that were fitted to Panzer 4s were field Modifications,
The MG34 Cupola Mounts fitted to Panzer 4s and early Tiger 1s were done in the field,
Almost every Tank carried boxes of Paint that when mixed with liquid would be painted on the Tanks to aid Camouflage and there is no reason why a resourceful crew would not add additional colours to their scrim nets to make it more in keeping with the location the Tank was in.
A Camo Net with spring green and earth colours would be worse than useless in an Autumn hedgerow setting unless the crew did some modifications of there own.
And most important of all, It is your Tank and you can do what you want with it.
He who must not be named would be laughing out loud at this discussion as anyone who saw his take on Tank finishes would know,
Now they were truly original.

That's why I thought that base netting would be a plain hessian colour, or sack colour, Shaun, and then adapted for seasonal changes. Summer foliage wouldn't be much use in a Winter on the Steppes, certainly.
If the Tank has improvised seasonal or campaign camo on it, then there's no need to go much beyond a neutral coloured netting. The WW2 Allied netting I saw advertised on a surplus site, was plain jute coloured (sack-coloured).
Once again though, if it looks the part, and you're happy with it, use what you have. I don't imagine your neighbourhood is full of WW2 equipment experts ...or model tank critics
As for General HWMNBN, a touching shade of Salmon Pink netting would have been issued to all Panzer Units

Doesn't look too bad. If it starts annoying me I can always get rid of it.