Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to know if anyone has any tips for painting Panzer Grey. I use Tamiya XF-63 German Grey. I primarily do 1/35 but some 1/72 as well. Is there a formula to lighten the color or mix with another. I recently painted a Pz38 the German Grey color and it looks very dark, too dark to me. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Best,

Walter

Walter,

I did a Panzer III a few years back and used Tamiya German Grey. Like you, I thought it was way too dark. I tried using flat white to fade the grey, but I didn't like the results. I then tried different lighter greys to fade the German Grey until I got results that I thought looked right. I would experiment XF19 Sky Grey, XF20 Medium Grey, or XF64 Dark Sea Grey with a 5::1 ratio.

Steve

"...any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy." John F. Kennedy, 1963

Hello Steve,


Thanks for responding. I appreciate the help. When you say at the end a 5:1 ratio do you mean mix the German grey with the other grey at 5 parts German grey with 1 part other grey? or ? Just trying to understand for myself... thanks again.

Best,

Walter

Hi Walkter,

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. 5 parts German Grey to 1 part lighter grey. I recommend experimenting, possibly even going higher to 6:1 or 7:1, depending on the lighter shade. It's been a while since I did a vehicle in that color, so I can't remember what shade of lighter grey that I used. Definately don't use white.

Steve

"...any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy." John F. Kennedy, 1963

I recommend sitting down one evening and mixing several variations of the color using XF-63 as the starting point. Cut 5-10 pieces of sheet plastic roughly 2x4 inches and spray a different color on each one. Keep track of the ratios you mix so that when you find a color you like, you can re-create it in the future.

My 5 cents worth of advice is that you vary the color you apply on one model to another so that your collection ultimately doesn't look like it came out of the same paint shop on the same day.

Thanks Steve,
That's good advice. I appreciate the help. I will give it a whirl and see what I come up with. Again, thanks for the help an input.

Best,

Walter

very dark in real life. Remember that in period photos most of them probably have a light coat of dust on them acting as a filter. You can tell in this pic that they are very dark.



Even Volstad used a very dark grey and he does his homework...



Having said that I too like the lighter look and although from time to time I use Tamiya, I primarily use Model Master Panzer Schwartzgrau. Its comes in both enamel and acrylic but the acrylic looks a bit lighter. You can also use scale effect by mixing in appropriate white or light grey into the mix, for 1/35 it is around 10%. so 9 parts dark grey to 1 part lightening color.

Roy

Thank you Roy,
I appreciate the input. Both You and Steve have the right idea I believe. I will experiment and hopefully find the right mix. Thanks again!

Best,

Walter