ATOM Late German Camouflage Set

Three-color Wehrmacht camouflage 1943 to 1945

In February 1943 a new base color, dark yellow, replaced the gray used until then on German ground vehicles. The crews were issued pastes for thinning it, so the shade differed from one machine to the next and from one workshop to another. Patches of green and red-brown were sprayed or brushed over this base, and the result came out differently in every unit.

It is exactly this variability that the set respects. It holds two different dark yellows, which is the key to faithful work: one serves as the base, the other for brightening large areas or for suggesting a later repaint. Dark olive green and chocolate brown form the classic pair of patches, the red-brown suits softer transitions and the reseda green interiors, crates and accessories.

There are two ways to work. Either the hard edges of the patches as they looked when applied with a brush at the unit, or the soft misted transition from an airbrush, which matches factory work. Both variants are documented historically, and the decision belongs with the particular machine you are building.

Six bottles are enough for the whole course of the build, from the base coat to the faded edges. The shades mix with each other without curdling, so you can mix in an intermediate tone of your own.

The set is built for vehicles, but you will also use it on artillery, trailers and field fortifications of the same period, because the coatings were shared across all ground hardware. Anyone building a scene from 1944 will appreciate that one box brings together colors for the vehicle and for the crates and drums around it.

The shades can be thinned with water and applied in two or three thin coats. A heavy coat fills the patterns on the plastic, and on large flat sides that is the most common mistake that gives a finished piece away.