Painterz.......

I've seen some pictures of German AFV screens on top
of tanks awaiting installation that look to be a different color than the afv...pre-painting of the AFV. What color were they and/or what color could/should I paint them in this state?
Thanks for any help you can provide!
ASL modeler

There is a reasonable chance that such components (like roadwheels and headlights) were supplied by subcontractors already painted in the prevailing base colour. I assume that your subject vehicle is from after Feb 1943 as external mesh screens are not very evident prior to that except on Tiger I and a dark grey mesh probably looks similar in tone to a primed but unpainted hull. This would suggest that the screens you see are lighter than the primed hull of it's a monochrome image (and if you had a colour one you wouldn't be asking the question!).

Of course I'm writing this without actually seeing the image that you are...

http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/ddn_archive/DDNUploads/2012/12/WWII_02.jpg

Please refer to this picture I found. I'd appreciate your opinion on the color of that screen.

Thanks very much

ASLmodeler

Could you be a little more specific? I don't see any obvious screens there, although I am viewing it on my phone. I do see a driver's seat in the foreground, which is no doubt Elfenbein as the subcontractor would have painted it thus. Obviously not that though!

There is also an engine cover underneath the tank that is an oddly bright color.

There is a screen on the left rear deck, though
on such a small screen, you probably can't see
it clearly enough.

I don't know if that is a screen. You would be able to see some detail of what it's sitting on thru the mesh if it was a screen. As for color? Most likely what ever the base color is to be or primer.

I did see that but wasn't convinced that it was a screen rather than a plate. It seems a little early in the assembly process to have mesh screens sitting loosely on the hull, as they would need to be taken off it to fit the components underneath them.