What color was a French Lorraine schlepper inside and maybe outside? hard or soft edge camo? This is going to be depicted as a gun tractor

I would suggest that most collected French equipment adopted for "as is" service in German units in 1941 - 42 were immediately exterior-painted in the regulation "dunkelgrau" monochrome scheme of the period. The interiors of non-reconstructed closed vehicles probably remained whatever the French left it as.

Things probably changed quite a bit with those schleppers / carriers and tanks that were substantially converted by Alfred Becker et al (Baukommando Becker) - who built several specialized vehicles (Marders and such) from captured French tanks and Lorraine carriers. These conversions involved opening up and changing bodies and upper hulls, and probably resulted in some interior painting. Open-top AFV interiors visible to outside viewers were generally mostly painted in the exterior base color (dunkelgrau in 1941 - 42, dunkelgelb after mid-'43). Closed, non-modified driver spaces likely remained "French". (Why bother repainting these spaces?)

All of those captured vehicles which remained in service into 1943 and later were repainted in dunkelgelb and some also in theater camo schemes, as seen in numerous pictures. I would be pretty sure that closed interiors remained "French".

Hopefully this offers you some guidance.

There are many pictures of ex-French carriers and tanks in German service, and you can get some sense of the changing exterior paint-schemes being used. Interior photos are much rarer, and there probably is little hard documentation as to exact practices the Germans followed for interior painting in closed spaces. The open, visible space practices (paint exterior base color) are somewhat better known, I think.

My approach has been to generally use whatever I can find about the original interior on these things, and use the documented period schemes for the type externally.

Cheers! Bob

Thank you Bob

Rick;

Some more; I have searched around the web and in my modest WWII library, and must report that there are relatively few pictures of straight Lorraine 37L carriers / tractors in German use - many more of conversions such as the Marder I and "Geschutzwagen" (howitzer-carriers) versions.

Speaking specifically of Lorraine 37L "straight" carriers:
Most remained in France after 1940 and were issued to the occupation forces. Some were sent to North Africa to serve in the DAK, and some served early in Operation Barbarossa (mostly as gun-tractors!). Service in those far places was hampered by lack of spare parts and, in N.A., need to ship them to Italy and then across the Med... So most remained in France, where broken units could be salvaged for parts.

(A modest number of Marder I were later shipped to Russia in 1943 out of growing desperation to mobilize any and all AT arty possible. The Marder I and similar Geschutzwagen were seriously over-burdens on the light Lorraine chassis and were prone to break-downs and poor performance on the "roads" of Russia. So most of these conversions remained in France and were also issued to reserve and occupation units stationed there.)

Original French camo schemes included both hard- and soft-edge 2, 3, or 4-color patterns. Post 1940 through 1942, tractors were repainted dunkelgrau for unit issue. Starting in mid-1943, units repainted these tractors to monochrome dunkelgelb. In keeping with almost all other "beute" or captured equipment, unit shops and crews were responsible for adding any camo paint... Most photos showing carriers and tractors, as versus Marder I, show that tractors sometimes received one or another version of sprayed-on 2- or 3-color schemes. As supply priorities were for east-front combat units, these rear-area occupation forces probably received limited supplies of paints, so support vehicles like trucks and tractors issued to infantry units in France and Belgium often remained straight dunkelgelb. There ARE photos showing some carriers with camo, and all appear to be spray jobs (some very light mottles, some distinct mottles, a few very well-done with tight edges on blotches). Some carriers were assigned to Luftwaffe units for airfield defense and support. Luftwaffe units may have received better supply-streams, and many field-defense units apparently had some pretty well-painted vehicles... After Normandy, available carriers were issued to the ad-hoc and seriously-depleted units employed to defend the west front from the Allies. Some of these units may have actually received some set of contrived and relict vehicles and painted them up in "unit schemes" - as suggested by a couple of pictures showing such units ready for inspection before heading out to get blown up.

What's all the above drivel really mean for you? Probably it depends on whether you want to model a tractor and gun "in Russia", or in North Africa, in 1941 -42, or whether you are going to do some "1944 Normandy" item. Russia saw gray tractors. Some of these likely became "winter painted" in late 1941. (As tractors went, the 37L was not a heavy-weight, and most probably died off by mid-1942 if not earlier...) NA saw gray tractors repainted with DAK colors and some green-over-sandy schemes. Western Europe 1944+ saw dunkelgelb and probably almost any version of a sprayed-on 2- or 3-color scheme. You may also consider using one in Italy 1943-44, or in the Balkans on anti-partisan service - these would be dunkelgelb and maybe brown-over dgelb or tri-color spray jobs). But as almost everyone says when discussing German armor in WWII, "NEVER say NEVER!" and variation was the name of the game!

Cheers! Bob

I again thank you ! I may do one towing a German 10.5cm probably in Dark Grey/ brown mottle

Rick

Rick;

I would suggest AVOID doing that! There was a regulation armor paint scheme of 1/3 dark brown over 2/3 dark gray ... effective through July 1940. (So, many tanks and armored cars and some trucks and halftracks and big guns went to the "Blitz" in brown-over-gray. But generally when they were repaired even in May and June of 1940, the brown was often skipped. The dunkelgrau monochrome regulation went into affect in July of 1940, and all armor and most other stuff was quickly repainted after the Blitz was concluded.)

Probably NO captured French equipment was painted up in the out-going brown-over-gray scheme.

Everything seen going to war in Greece and the Balkans in later 1940 and 1941 was monochrome dunkelgrau. Everything that went to Russia in June 1941 in Barbarossa marched out in dunkelgrau. SOME of those vehicles received ad-hoc field camo using captured Russian paint supplies (even house paint!) applied by crew along the way, and some units actually apparently obtained small stocks of Luftwaffe colors later in 1941. Camo painting on 1941 vehicles was pretty rare, and likely did not occur on any captured equipment (consider that several ex-Brit tanks and lorries and many ex-French Renault trucks marched east - all the photos strongly suggest that these went east in dunkelgrau.) When winter came in 1941, many vehicles did receive whitewash winter camo coats...

And of course, these 37L did end up going to North Africa in mid 1941 and later.... And while they originally shipped out from Italy wearing dunkelgrau, they were quickly camo'd in theatre using mud, house paints, and Italian mil paint supplies.

But the brown over gray scheme is probably not a good choice for this vehicle at any time or place, if one is thinking "historical".

Just suggesting!

Just suggesting!

I bow to the historical evidence, Bob I thank you again
Rick