Landships II

Peter T · General

German Camo Colours

Peter T · General

uuups!
Sorry, I can't manage that with these links. Hope you will find the pictures nevertheless.

Peter Kempf · Field Marshal

Well, I think it is a very good theory, as it rhymes with what we know! The effects of ageing the colours under the sun, hmm: why not!

Yes, the Lime Green is probably to be seen as a variant of our old friend Feldgrau. And the pink started out as Red-Brown. You can see on some the helmets that the Red-Brown has at least a hint of pink in it!

Centurion · Legend

Pink and lime green in their own right (not faded from something else) appear in a number of German pre printed camoflage patterns on aircraft fabric. Actually pink is quite a good camoflage for objects seen from the air in certain conditions. One should note the pink paint on SAS Landrovers in the 1950s and 60s. This has an interesting history - The wreck of a Mosquito Bomber was a prominent feature at the end of the runway of a desert airstrip used by the RAF supporting the post war SAS in Libya pre the Ghadaffi era. Air crews coming in to land noticed it change colour as the wind blown sand gradually stripped the paint down through its various layers. Then one day it vanished - from the air at least (on the ground close up it was horribly conspicuous being bright pink having reached the original primer applied to the plywood skin) so pink was adopted as an effective camo colour. Bright pink can provide cover, from the air, against certain coloured soils. So can lime green and violet under the right conditions (for example against objects in winter desciduous woodlands. Colours that can look outlandish close up can often appear very different from afar. Just to make life more difficult the camera will sometimes make obvious what has become invisible to the human eye. So Pink, Lime Green etc need not be the result of fading they can be genuine camo colours.

Riding one of my old hobby horses this is a problem for the model maker. Does the scale model represent the real thing as it would be seen from a distance (when it would appear that size to the eye)? If so should one adapt the colour shading to match the perception that the eye would have from that distance. Once one has answered that one one can go on to such questions as how many angels can dance on the point of a pin?

Mark Hansen · Legend

According to the plaque attached to the Amiens gun, the colours that are now on the gun are a good match for the countryside where it was operated. That said, there is no knowing how much fading took place between the original colours and the paint applied sometime around 1938. I imagine the paint applied in 1938 and then in 1960 would have acted like a sunscreen and prevented any further fading.

Mark Hansen · Legend

One more thing I hadn't considered. It is probable that the AWM would have taken their colour samples from the underside of the barrel due to this area receiving less sunlight and therefore being less prone to fading.

Brotzie · Corporal

I was interested in the light blue used as a camo colour on the FK16 artillery piece in the Australian War Museum:

"The FK16 below can be seen in the Australian War Museum. I don't know if the paint is the original one, but I guess that even if the colour scheme is reconstructed, they wouldn't have chosen such an outrageous hue without just cause. So here you have it: Light Blue..."

Freeservers doesn't allow IMG coding links so, to see the piece in question, click on the source at http://www.landships.freeservers.com/german_ww1colours.htm.

It reminded me of British WW2 desert camo - a quick bit of searching turned up this picture of a Matilda infantry tank:

(source: http://anzacsteel.hobbyvista.com/Armoured%20Vehicles/matildaattankfestph_1.htm)

So maybe the AWM's FK16�example is from a desert theatre?

BTW, on the subject of pink as a camo colour, here's a picture of a Pink Panther:

Quite convincing in the desert, especially after it gets a bit dusty. Also #84 in the top 100 sexiest cars, according to the source, carprices24.com!

elbavaro · Commander in Chief

You know why the pink? They found it, that pink is the best camo for the dessert. Realy!