How early did the dot camo appear overtop of the three color camo scheme.Was it specific to the buldge or even to certain vehicles?

Hopefully a real expert will chime in as my knowledge is pretty basic. In terms of Panthers it would appear to be maybe August through September only before being discontinued. While not "Bulge" specific many new deliveries over that time probably went to units earmarked for the offensive so most would have shown up there.

I don't know any specifics regarding anything else however apart from the fact I've seen photos showing variations of the dot scheme on TigerBs, PzIVs and Hetzers.

Brent

The dot camouflage pattern is also known as "ambush" camouflage. It was meant to simulate the effect of sunlight filtering through tree leaves. It was factory-applied to many different German AFVs (not just Tigers and Panthers)from the period of August through Oct/Nov of 1944 - so only a 2-3 month period.

Thanks gentlemen.

As with anything involving paint, you have to keep in mind that there may have been "in field" applications outside of those dates, too.

Some vehicles (a Tiger ll in particular) appear to have a typical field-applied 3 color camo job with contrasting dots/spots - late summer 1944.