German Red/Brown and Green

**ReducedAirFact** · 07-23-2016 11:16

In 1916 through early 1917 many German planes were painted in a combination of red/brown¹ and dark green. In April 1917 Idflieg issued orders to change the red/brown to a mauve/purple color instead, since -- as the story goes -- the brown+green scheme was too easy to confuse with French camouflage. (Although, since French five-color camouflage was not common until 1918, there seems to be a problem with this narrative.)

The usual caveats: As always, there was frequently variation in paint color, weathering, varnishing, etc., so this is just a general guide. Unless you've got a high-end, wide-gamut monitor in perfect calibration (and who does?), do not trust the colors you see on your monitor! Instead, visit your local paint store and see if you can find paint samples like the ones listed below and then match your hobby paints or mixes against those. The goal is just to "get close". See 'Color: why we'll never get it exactly right'.

Entries with an asterisk (*) are excellent matches; entries with question marks (?) have not been formally measured with a color meter and are therefore unconfirmed; entries with (~) are not a great match but they are adequate.

Sources: Windsock Datafile 12: Albatros C.III and others

German Red/Brown	German 1916-early 1917 Camouflage
Methuen/CIElab	House Paints and Standards	Hobby Paints
39.5,10.58,21.49 WD12	Beauti-Tone Mover and Shaker B44-1-0158-3 Behr Mission Brown N250-7 Benjamin Moore Saddle Brown 2164-10 DIN6164 TSD 3-4-5 Dulux Brown Study 00YY 12/173 FS595c 31090 Earth Red Camouflage NCS1950 S 6020-Y30R ** Pantone 2321 C RAL Classic Olivbraun 8008 Sherwin-Williams Sturdy Brown 6097 Valspar Dark Earth 3011-8	~ Vallejo Model Color 70.875 Beige Brown ~
47.82,16.7,34.84 blend²	Behr Catellina MQ4-5 Benjamin Moore Coppertone 2161-10 Dulux Antique Gold 90YR 16/406 Dulux Trade Rich Havana 2 90YR 16/406 RAL Effect 320-4 Sherwin-Williams Leather Bound 6118 Valspar Autumn Surprise 3011-5	? Reaper MSP 9162 Driftwood Brown ?
66.23, -2.71, 16.17 WD12	Beauti-Tone Gold Metal B25-1-0998-3 * Benjamin Moore Camel 2165-10 Dulux Spice Island 0YY 19/464 PPG Brown Basket 16-15 Sherwin-Williams Saucy Godl 6370 Valspar Caramel Toffee 3009-7	?Vallejo Model Color 70.856 Ochre Brown ? ? Reaper MSP 9249 Sandy Brown ?

For the greens, see Color: German Green & Lilac/Mauve

¹ = it seems like more of a yellow-brown or orange-brown to me.
² = a blend of the other two, since they span a wide range

Color matching with 1989 Methuen Handbook of Color and Nix Color sensor

**matt56** · 07-23-2016 17:08

Great stuff, Daryl! I'm surprised the red brown is less red than I imagined - I shall have to check my Vallejo paints to see if I have either of those you mention above...I have some Fokker DIIs to finish, and they're red brown and green.

All the best,
Matt

**ReducedAirFact** · 07-23-2016 21:21

Originally Posted by matt56

Great stuff, Daryl! I'm surprised the red brown is less red than I imagined - I shall have to check my Vallejo paints to see if I have either of those you mention above...I have some Fokker DIIs to finish, and they're red brown and green

Yes, the base color on the "6" page is a yellowy orange... I would have expected page "7" or "8" which are more of a reddish orange (plus the black, leading to red-brown). But that must have been what the Windsock folks saw when they compared the color to original fabric.