Painting Dunkelgelb

Dunkelgelb By Jeremy Painter Dunkelgelb, literally Dark Yellow in German. Sounds simple right? Apparently not, if like me you’ve spent some years researching that ‘just right’ tone for your Panther, Tiger or unit of StuG III’s. There seems to be endless discourse about what the real Dunkelgelb looked like, from official publications, to paint chips, veteran reports and page long discussions on various message boards.

The huge and varied amount of information can sometimes hinder more then help when trying to make that decision on what you’re going to be painting your Late War Panzer Company. I’ll make it easier for you… there is no correct and proper shade of Dunkelgelb. A quick search on the web will tell you three main things that you should consider when choosing the right shade of paint to recreate Dunkelgelb and they are: 1.     There were two different shades of Dunkelgelb factory applied at the beginning of 43’ 2.     Field applied Dunkelgelb was privy to the availability of gasoline (its official thinner, though sometimes oil, water or other solvents were used), quantities and application techniques (applied by rags or brushes as opposed to the field units with compressors). 3.     Mud, dust and extreme weather conditions. With all this in mind, I painted some Tiger turrets with a range of colours I thought might be applicable for a close approximation of Dunkelgelb, for use on any front. Most of the colours were painted with ‘instant’ weathering, application and soluble affects in mind. By ‘instant’ I try to incorporate into the base colour what people would normally add later on, like mud and rain effects on the paint. All are painted over an undercoat of black, using two to three thinned down coats.

VP882 Middlestone What we here at Battefront recommend for the base colour of all 43’ onwards German vehicles. Middlestone has just the right amount of green and brown in it to dull down the yellow which some consider a bit to bright.

VP914 Green Ochre Considered by many to be the more appropriate Dunkelgelb it nonetheless doesn’t have that green tinge that official sources have stated was part of Dunkelgelb. It might look better on the lighter looking Italian Front vehicles.

VP824 German Camo Orange Ochre Simply a more orangey shade of Green Ochre. Again, a more ‘muddy’ base for Italian front vehicles.

VP913 Yellow Ochre This is the closest our Vallejo ranges comes to what you might think Dark Yellow is, and I’ve seen many people use it on their vehicles.

VP977 Desert Yellow A much lighter shade of German Camo Orange Ochre.

VP879 Green Brown A good base for those who want to create a muddy washed out look. If you want to combine weathering into your basecoat, this is the way to go.

VP880 Khaki Grey A greener shade of Green Brown, also good for that ‘filthy’ look.

Mixed 50/50 VP914 Green Ochre and VP882 Middlestone Here to show you that by mixing paint, you can achieve different shades, and still stay in the approximate range of Dunkelgelb. Green Ochre and German Camo Orange Ochre are also good mixed together.

Finally all these turrets are painted with a base colour in mind, and are intended to be highlighted once, twice or maybe three times in a lighter shade.