Kriegsmarine WWII German Colors

Gray ships, red underwater hulls

Warships under the German flag wore a range of grays during the Second World War that merge into a single tone from a distance but in fact set the superstructures, the sides and the upper decks apart from one another. Below the waterline red came into play, originally from the antifouling finish. In the straits and in the Baltic, conspicuous dazzle stripes also appeared, meant to make a ship's course and speed harder to judge.

The scope of the palette: a dark green, a sea gray, a light gray, a neutral gray, an off-white gray, a light gull gray, a rich red for the underwater hull and, as the eighth item, a satin clear coat. That last one is not a paint but a final surface treatment with which the sheen of the whole model is evened out.

How to build it: on large hulls it pays to shade each area slightly differently. The sides tend to be a little darker than the superstructures, while the upper surfaces are lightened by the sun. The transition to the red underwater hull is masked with tape and should be sharp, because it is the most conspicuous line on a finished model.

Beyond ships: the gray tones can also be used on harbor equipment, cranes and escort vessels, so the set serves a whole scene. The satin clear coat suits protecting decals before further surface work.

Large ship models have one drawback that everyone who has built them knows: paint consumption is nothing like that of an aircraft or a tank. It is therefore sensible to take the set as a base to which, on long hulls, the most-used gray is added separately.