Small Scale Military Headquarters

I found this two camo scheme when doing some research for my RC Panzer IV. Anyone know where it might have been used?

Thats a good question, do you have any other pics of this tank? Somthing that may show a divisional mark.
The Panzer IV seems to be a B or C model as for the two color paint scheme... it could be Russia '41-'42.

G'day Metalwar

Do you have any images that show the unit markings on the vehicle? as with these you should be able to make a rough guess as to which front the tank was serving.

given the turret bustle at the back it's probably an E or early F; given that and the the psuedo 3 colour camo (lack of red brown was common in the early days of it) would probably make it Russian front mid '43. 3 tone didnt' start being used til about mid '43 and the PIV E/early F was still in use then, although being phased out.

I only had that photo that I found. I don't know anything else about it. Is it even feasible that this vehicle could have had this type of camo?

Is it even feasible that this vehicle could have had this type of camo?

Oh yeah, it is feasible all right. One thing to remember is that the Germans had many non-standard "field expedient" camo schemes, and they often times used whatever paint colors were on hand in sufficient quantities at the time. I agree with Normandy and Aferg that a scheme like this would probably be used in Russia. The actual scheme in your photo could in reality be something that a modeler dreamed up, but that does not make it any less likely that something very similar was used on a real vehicle at some time and place. I like the way that scheme looks, and if you do as well, I say go for it, and don't worry too much about any questions of whether it's a "real" scheme or not. I remember when I used to hand assemble and paint 1/35th scale armor, I did several German tanks with totally fictitious paint jobs that I had dreamed up, and when I posted pics of them at one of my old modeling sites the guys all said "hey, that looks really cool, where did that scheme come from", to which I replied "my basement" they all got a good laugh out of it, but nobody thought any less of my work because of it.

the nice thing about the german 3 colour scheme is that there was no standard scheme. The vehicle was base yellow overall and then it was left up to various field commanders and often the crew themselves to use green and brown in whatever proportions and ways they saw fit to best camoflauge the vehicle to their local surroundings.

That's why you see such a tremendous variation in german vehicle paint schemes. Add to that paint shortages, where one of the colours was in limited supply and you get even greater variation.

Also, in the early days of the 3 camo scheme all vehicles were still dark grey and often dark yellow/brown/green was sprayed over it in a wide variety of ways.

Except for the brief period in '44 where the ambush scheme was factory applied, there was essentially no standardization of the patterns in which german vehicles were painted.

thinking about it a bit more i would place the PIV in your picture at around the time of Kursk. PIV E's were no longer in production at that point, so that means the vehicle would originally have been painted in dark grey, as by the time dark yellow was being applied at the factory, the PIV E was out of production.

The 3 colour scheme came in just before Kursk. Given this vehicle is painted in dark yellow means it was field applied. There was lots of time for such applications in the lull before Kursk.

Osprey's Panzerkampfwagen IV Medium Tank, 1936-1945 colour plate 2, shows, I quote, PzKpfw IV Ausf. B or C, 21.Pz.Div.: Normandy, June 1944. In the very scheme. It appears the germans were running short of everything and used what they had even then.

see, i was right.

see, i was right.

On second thought, I believe this scheme was used in Normandy.... around, oh... June of 1944...

Thanks alot guys. I think I am going to repaint my R/C panzer in this scheme. I am not real experienced at camo painting but I am going to use a camo dark green spray paint and then mask off the areas with painters blue tape that should stay green. Then I am going to use Tamyia dark yellow. I know everyone is probably thinking, why not airbrush? I am not real good yet with one and the edges look pretty hard on the pic.

Thanks again for the help.

I think the technique you are planning to use should work just fine, be sure to post some pics of the finished project for us.

metalwar wrote:Thanks alot guys. I think I am going to repaint my R/C panzer in this scheme. I am not real experienced at camo painting but I am going to use a camo dark green spray paint and then mask off the areas with painters blue tape that should stay green. Then I am going to use Tamyia dark yellow. I know everyone is probably thinking, why not airbrush? I am not real good yet with one and the edges look pretty hard on the pic.

Thanks again for the help.

Use Silly putty rather than the blue tape. It is cheep does not stick to the paint and will not bleed. It works fine and easy. Or you can use both. Use the tape for the field and the putty for your edge.i it shapes easier than cutting the tape.

I am having trouble deciding what brand and color of green to use. Anyone have a suggestion?