Dressing French Tanks For Battle with Jeremy Painter All French tanks had their camouflage applied in the factory before being sent to their units. Each factory had their own camouflage schemes, although they changed over time. It was common for replacement tanks to have a different camouflage scheme from the rest of their unit. The painting guide below can be applied to suit any of the French camo schemes shown in this article. Learn about the French Early War Paint Set here... Learn about the French Early War Decals here...

Painting French Tanks Step One Undercoat the tank with black primer, then basecoat with GI Green (FWP347). Wash with Black Shade (201) then lightly drybrush with GI Green (FWP347) again.

Step Two Apply Motherland Earth (FWP383) as the base coat for the brown patches and as an undercoat for the yellow patches, as yellow will not cover the green well.

Step Three Paint Sicily Yellow (FWP362) over the brown camouflage undercoat to build up a good base for the yellow. Give the entire tank another thin wash of Black Shade (201).

Step Four Paint the yellow patches with Sicily Yellow (FWP362). Touch up the brown and green patches with Motherland Earth (FWP383) and GI Green (FWP347), leaving black in the recesses.

Step Five Paint a thin line of Grease Brown (FWP320), around each camouflage patch. Paint the tracks Worn Rubber (FWP302), wash with Black Shade (201), and drybrush with Dark Gunmetal (FWP480). At this stage you can apply decals using the guide shown below.

Weathering Paint chips of GI Green (FWP347) over the camouflage patches and Dark Gunmetal (FWP480) over the base colour to show paint chipping back to the base colour and metal. Drybrush Motherland Earth (FWP383) and Comrade Khaki (FWP326) over the tracks and bottom half of the hull to represent dust and dirt. Brown Shade (200) can be used to add rust streaks. Download a PDF version of this article here...

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