Panzer II F, DAK camouflage.

[Troy Smith]

Having actually (shock horror) completed some builds, mostly it seems old Matchbox kits,  I have picked up a few more.

 

One being the Pz II F, with a neat base.

 

The instructions list on as it as a 15th Pz Div,  numbered 8, 

 

the joys of google turned up these, si I'm guessing the Matchbox kits is this one? 

the '8' has a white outline?  Or that just a photographic artefact? 

 

 

 

From these this looks to be a desert scheme, 

 

this place has this

https://panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage

 

"On 17 March 1941, Inspectorate 2 ordered that equipment in North Africa should be painted two-thirds yellow-brown (gelbbraun RAL 8000) and one-third gray-green (graugrün RAL 7008). Canvas items was to be also to be painted using a special type of paint.

1. In place of the dark gray/dark brown or single-color dark gray patterns (1940 Army bulletin page 382 item 864 paragraph 1), the equipment - including all motor vehicles - in use with the units in Africa must be given a paintwork of yellow-brown RAL 8000/gray-green RAL 7008,"

 

"On 25 March 1942, Inspectorate 2 ordered that gelbbraun and graugrün were to be replaced by brown (braun RAL 8020) and gray (grau RAL 7027) once existing paint stocks were depleted, using the same pattern."

 

Questions

 

I presume a Pz II is more likely to be RAL8000/RAL 7008 rather than RAL8020/7027?   Is there a specified pattern? 

 

Are these RAL colours still the same as the current RAL version?   @Steben  @Casey ? 

 

The current RAL K-7 fan deck does have RAL8000 and RAL 7008,  bit not RAL 8020 or 7027.   

 

TIA

[JackG]

I believe the two period photos linked are the Panzer II Ausf.C, which is identified by the angled driver's front plate,   The Ausf.F  had this plate widened and a false visor added.   If you compare to the model kit, you will notice the difference right away.

 

 

Markings may still be similar, as the 8 would represent the company number,   This was the typical style of 15th Panzer to carry just the company number on the turret.   Another photo confirms the white outline.

 

 

 

I've neither the RAL fan deck from WWII nor modern, so can't comment on the similarities or not,  though have seen some debates about it.   

 

Concerning the camouflage, the stipulation for the secondary colour was to cover only one third of the vehicle surface.   Here too I've seen discussion that vehicles left the factory in only the main color, with the second colour applied at the unit commander's  discretion.

[Casey]

I sadly do not have samples of those colors I have it only in the not-so-good AK Interactive book.

 

Funnily my measurements of their other reproduction in this book suggest their *photos* are closer color representations than their color swatches. They have photos of 8020 and 7027 cards.

[Nenad Ilijic]

Did some research for the '8' Panzer II, when I was building it some time ago. It is definitely Ausf. C and it was most probably painted in RAL 8000. You can see my model here.

 

The paint I used,  Gunze Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color H402, is considered very accurate representation of RAL 8000.

 

As I remember, there is a chance that some Panzer IIs (mostly Fs) were painted in RAL 8020, later in this theater, during Tunisian campaign for example. Like this one. Revell 17 is considered nice representation of RAL 8020.

 

MRP and Hataka version are both pretty accurate representations of RAL 8000 and RAL 8020.

 

Cheers,

Nenad