There is a particular, and peculiar, German 'Ambush' pattern (probably factory applied) consisting of series of connected and overlapping dots some 8 - 10 inches in diameter. On some vehicles (Jadgpanzer lV-70, Ardennes) the dot pattern 'floats' horizontally; and on a couple of Grille Sig 33, 38t, also Ardennes) the pattern rises vertically. These units were both from the 1st SS Div. during the Battle of the Bulge.
Would anyone have more info on this type of camo such as it's name, and if it was used on other types of vehicles like Panthers, or Tigers, Mk lV's, etc. And if it was used in any other engagements on either West or East Fronts?
A second quick search gave me a pic of a Hetzer (on pg 91 of Panzer Colors l) in what appears to be the same pattern, although the caption says the pic was taken in Nov, '44 and does not mention the unit.
By the way, this pattern was not sprayed, but brush painted, and it is distinctly a dot pattern and not a random wavy-curvy pattern.

I think "AMBUSH" pattern is a late war type. I think it was really only aplied to Tank destroyers (jagdpanzer) and SP Artillery (nashorn etc). theres a pic here of a Sturmtiger, a Hummel, and a Tiger 2 in this pattern or a similar one on this site

http://www.waffenhq.de/index1024.html

Go to the "Grobgerat" link on the left and click the tanks i mentioned above to see a page about them in which a pic of the camo is featured. It's a shame the site is not in english. I cannot get much more, sorry. Hope my scraps are of use to you

Interesting site, but none of these vehicles carry the pattern I described - just the usual sprayed camo pattern with small dots applied over the basic colors. And the musuem restored vehicles don't have original patterns or colors. You would think a musuem would try to duplicate, or at least approximate, the original colors as there is plenty of reference for it. Modellers go to great lengths to make better representations than those found in musuems. But I digress. One of my sources named the pattern in question 'cloud'. Whether or not this is correct, it is a good description. So far vehicles bearing this pattern are restricted to 1st SS Pz. Div. which would indicate the vehicles were unit painted and not neccessarily factory painted - one vehicle type being SP artillery, and the other, a panzerjager, which I find strange because SP artillery doesn't need ambush camo. I'd like to know if anyone has positive ID of other types of vehicles in different divisions, and even different fronts, with this particular camo pattern.

I can't figure out how to post a pic here, but I did post an illustration of a panzerjager lV-70 in the Members Galleries section for anyone who wants to search for it. I should have scanned just a section of the pic in a larger format to show a detail of this camo. If you look closely you can just make out that the green and red/brown areas are actually made up of large colored spots, or dots, and have a hard-edged, brushed border to them. One source referred to this as a 'cloud' pattern. The smaller dappled spots that complete this ambush scheme are more complex in shape and are fewer than on the more common sprayed pattern variety.

Hey Biglles, i shall take a look thru my library when i get home from today. I think i have a least one picture of what you mean, but still, i don't know how helpful it will be if it is.
Marc

I have a book all about stug III and it shows a picture in colour of an ambush paintjob used in france in 1944. Its a base coat or dark yellow with a sponge pattern of dark brown and dark green...i dont think this is the one your talking about but i thought it might help

Well, i came up empty.

Is this the scheme?:



And similar on Bovingtons StugIII?:

Ambush pattern is specifically base dunkelgelb with disruptive patterns of rotbrun and dunkelgrun. There are small contrasting dots on the colors. I have reference examples where all three colors and dappled and others where only two are. The purpose was to replicate the effect of sunlight coming through the trees. I have seen models done with triangle or two opposing semi-circle stencils. I have also seen this with brushed or airbrushed dapples. I have never seen an example with a regular pattern, or a wavy pattern, though this was common in the simple 3 color schemes. One Panzer IV pic in the Jean Restayn Tanks of World War Two (Histoires et Collections) have very large sprayed dapples of green and brown with tiny yellow ones on the darker colors.


AMBUSH


NOT AMBUSH

Tommy2thumbs - you win the cigar! The B/W photo is exactly the scheme I was trying to describe although the pattern is much denser and the base sand color looks like it has been polka-dotted with ambush spots. You can see how the camo pattern is composed of large spots, or dots, roughly 8 - 10 in. in diameter, and they run together, or merge, to form bushy areas. I believe late-war British vehicles had a similar pattern of dark green over medium green, but the spots being much larger. The Bovington StuG lll, on the other hand, has a very different type of camo which does not look very authentic. Do you have any pertinent info on the B/W StuG lV camo style, or pics of other types of vehicles with this particular scheme?

Here's a similar Panzer IV from the same source:

Unfortunately I dont have any further info on the scheme. I came across the picture on the net some time ago when looking into later war camo schemes. If I recall the site I found it at considered it an experimental scheme - interesting there are shots of it in use. The pic to me looks like one of the "factory" fresh pics you occaisionally see of German armour which would suggest a factory applied scheme?

Ah found another site with it on:
http://missinglinks2.tripod.com/

Captions are here:
http://missinglinks2.tripod.com/stugiv.pdf

and 3 shots of the same vehicles are here (37a-c):
http://missinglinks2.tripod.com/stug4-2.jpg

Caption reads:

“Interesting shot of an interesting StugIV hybrid/late with some old and some new features. (almost suggesting it’s a factory test bed to trial the mods as they are introduced?). Note remote MG let exhausts yet Zimmerit. It wears a very unusual (if not unique for Stug IVs) disc pattern ambush camouflage variant applied on the side skirts only.”

Sources are given as:
p.146 – Stug IV by Speilberger (Schiffer)
p.94 – Panzer Iv (Schiffer)

Hope that helps a bit more.

*EDIT*: Similar topics at ML: http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=47207&messageid=948617261
and
http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=47207&messageid=955568129

A bit late maybe, but I just found it (again):

Good search Hut, and a great illustration of the camo I was describing. Maybe it should be called 'the bunch of grapes' scheme. LOL! Now I've got to get myself a Revell/Italeri StuG lV and paint it as per this illustration. It's interesting to note how the vehicle is painted in the two very different camo patterns. Too bad the unit is unknown, but I'll bet it's SS. The location and date are also interesting. Did Mk lV variants have the simplified exhaust system as early as summer '44?

I checked out the site 'Missing Links'. How do you enlarge all those tiny images. They're not 'thumbnails' to clik on. The whole page of images seem to be one single image. And those instructions on 'tweaking' kits are pretty difficult to understand without accompanying diagrams.