I know it is a stupid question :-) But how dark should the dunkelgrau on German early WW2 armor be? I'm now finishing my Tiger I Initial - my first WW2 model in fifteen years - and I've just painted the hull bottom using WEM Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 paint. In theory this is correct color, but it looks very dark on the model. Of course it will get lighter with post shading and weathering, but is it correct for the "factory new" dunkelgrau to be so very very dark? Somehow I have always imagined it to be dark, but not that much.

On the other hand, isn't it the same color also called schwarzgrau? That would explain a lot...

Pawel

Hi Pawel,
In one of the issues of Panzer Tracts by Jents, their are some color chips and dunkelgrau is indeed dark. Of course you have to remember about scale lighting, what made you decide to do a WWII model?
regards,
Robert

Mostly the fact that I got it for free (sort of) :-) And of course it is so excellent model that it was hard to resist to start building it immediately

Pawel

I suppose you have to take into consideration where the vehicle would be, I'm sure the gray would tone down if it was always in the open sun such as Africa or on the eastern front

just a though
-Shain

Pawel.


Dunkelgrau was in fact very dark. But dust and sun make it lighter quickly.

Go to this page and check as many pics as you can and you should get the idea.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/germans

Great link, thanks for posting that! One for the bookmarks

Ola Pawel

As already stated Dunkel grau (or Panzer Grau) in the early part of WW2 was very dark. In fact the vehicle would almost appear almost black so dark as the color was. Only when the panzer commander or any other crewman would stick out of the hatches you would notice it was not black.

Thanks guys!

One more question, if you don't mind. What color were new German tracks? I mean the new spare links carried on the tank. Were they left unpainted or painted in some color? Black, gray, primer?...

Pawel

Ola Pawel

to answer your second question. When the vehicle came out of the factory usually the spare tracks were added after the paintjob and they would appear to the sides just in their metal color. Since the German tanks did not had real opposition when it comes to armour and firepower these days it was not a problem to be so well camouflaged. The steel tracks would rust very quickly and would become a dark reddish brown color. Also often seen in thos days is ruststreaks coming from under it running down the turret sides.
Wehn In the field a tank was needed to be repainted (in camo colors or whitewash) then the crew did not bother too much taking them off and they were painted just as the rest of the vehicle. Same faith happened to the tools.

Thanks again!

Pawel

Well, I can't speak for their accuracy - but here's a photo of a a Panzer I recently restored at Aberdeen - it's pretty dark....

In general you can say: the newer the tank is and the earlier in WW2 it was produced the darker the gray will be.
As mentioned before the dark gray became lighter very quickly because of sun and dust, and it's supposed that the original dark gray (RAL 7021) was diluted with white color (later in the war) to save raw materials.

Hi Vodnik,
This is the picture I was thinking of when you first asked this question, but I could not fin it at that time.
Hope this helps.



regards,
Robert