Which colors for German tanks?

[tisaksen]

Hi,

I'm going out today to get colors for airbrushing my tanks. I've never done this before so I want to know which colors are a must have.

The shop I'm buying from has colors from Tamiya and Parma

thanks.

[caddyshack]

What ever paints you decide on getting..(as i personally don't use any you have mentioned) will call come out different colours to whats on the tin so to speak. also the base colour will effect the top coat colour. Just put test colours out on a scrap bit of plastic,you may find you need to darken or go lighter. Just play around with the colour until you get the look you want.

[caddyshack]

One thing i forgot to mentioned was ...when putting test panels out for colour match..if you are going to spray the tank (not hand brushed). Then don't hand brush the test panels as one coat hand brush is like 3 coats sprayed..Just be aware of that.

[Johnf]

What tank are you painting and what period. In tamiya the base is Dark yellow XF60. Vallego dark yellow works well in 1/16 scale and works really well with airbrush. I have the Tamiya codes for the brown and green also but am away fron home until sunday. If using Tamiya top up the pot with tamiya thinners and mix well. Get the large bottle of tamiya thinners. For primer use rust red. Tamiya also do an aerosol in dark yellow which is great for base but expensive and hard to get. Small aerosol.

[tisaksen]

What tank are you painting and what period.

I don't know enough about the tanks at this point to identify them as early, mid or late.

The first i'll be painting is the Heng Long Tiger 1, I think it's early ?
Also I have a JagdPanther and a Panther coming, also from Heng Long.

[caddyshack]

Thats a lot of paint you will be needing to do 3 tanks ,the cost of paint buying separately is going to be high..What i do is get the base colours in witch ever brand you use.In the biggest jars you can afford at the time and mix what shades you need. You will be surprised on how much paint it takes to finish just one tank. let alone 3. Heres a link to help you in mixing what ever shade you need. Just divide the figures by 10 or further if you wish. Then just adjust with black or white to shade that colour.

http://www.logoorange.com/color/color-codes-chart.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Am all for saving money in our hobbie and in the long run if you learn how to mix you own you will do just that. Also you don't have jars of paint going off that you hardly use.

[tisaksen]

Cool, thank you for all your input, appreciate it I will definitely mix the colors myself to save $$$. I guess I won't actually save the money because it'll be spent on even more tanks and accessories

[Saxondog]

Early and late main point concerning color is the date in Feb. 1943 that the German base color changed from Gray to Tan. This link has the dates and some examples of the coloring for Tigers. http://www.alanhamby.com/tiger.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In June of 1940 a general order was issued that stipulated all Panzers were to be painted dark grey (Dunkelgrau). This order was still in effect when the Tigers were initially deployed in August 1942, thus the very first Tiger I's were painted dark grey.

In areas where winter camouflage was needed, the crews applied whitewash. When spring came, the crews had to scrub the whitewash off. This was a tedious, labor intensive chore.

In February 1943, a general order came down to change the base coat from dark grey to tan (Dunkelgelb nach Muster). Crews were issued cans of red brown (Rotbraun) and dark olive green (Olivgruen) to use in creating camouflage patterns.

Some tigers were coated with the Zimmerit anti-magnetic mine coating starting in July 1943. This paste was applied in recognizable grooved patterns and the paint was applied over the top of the coating. Vehicles coated with Zimmerit have a distinctive rough look to their surface.

[JayBrd]

http://www.rctankwarfare.co.uk/forums/v ... 105&t=8128" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[panzerviking]

Hallo , I had bought 1 liter cans of paint and i used the RAL cods for it in a paintshop. Waterbased akrylic works fine. Just thin with water,alcohol, works nice on my Badger.