Color: German Four-Color Bottom Lozenge Camouflage

[ReducedAirFact]

There were a lot of different variants of German Lozenge camouflage. Four that are frequently described in Windsock Datafiles for German daytime aircraft are four- and five-color lozenge with top and bottom color schemes. This thread covers the four-color bottom camouflage colors. Usually these are applied to models using preprinted decals, but some people may paint by hand. This reference also allows you to compare a decal's colors to those from the Datafiles.

The companion article covering the top colors is at this link.



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; hobby paints with tildes (~) are just very rough matches...the best we can do without a custom color mix.

[ReducedAirFact]

Dark China Blue	German Four-Color Bottom Lozenge
Methuen/CIElab	House Paints and Standards	Hobby Paints
65.53,-10.67,-10.1	See the same color in "French Rudder and Roundel Colors"

[ReducedAirFact]

Dull Greyish Green	German Four-Color Lozenge
Methuen/CIElab/Source	House Paints and Standards	Hobby Paints
64.89,-18.46,9.18	~ Beauti-Tone Buenos Aires C33-3-0737-4 ~ * Behr Gallery Green S400-5 * ** Benjamin Moore Fresh Dill OR-340 ** ~ Dulux Trinidad 10GG 39/152 ~ Glidden Cultural Garden Green 70GY 35/237 PPG Catnip 1139-4 ~ Sherwin-Williams Nurture Green 6451 ~ * Valspar Blue Grass Mood 5006-6A *	?? Vallejo Model Color Medium Grey 70.987 ?? ~ Reaper MSP 9084 Pale Lichen ~

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

[ReducedAirFact]

Yellow Ochre	German Four-Color Lozenge
Methuen/CIElab/Source	House Paints and Standards	Hobby Paints
69.04,2.2,66.43	Beauti-Tone Sin City B24-1-0816-3 ~ Behr Plantain Chips M290-6 ~ ~ Benjamin Moore Golden Raisin OR-267 ~ Dulux Golden Ember 30YY 36/572 * Glidden Byzantine Gold 40YY 41/603 * NCS1950 S2060-Y Panton 7753 C PPG Yarrow 1214-7 Sherwin-Williams Crispy Gold 6699 Valspar Golden Avocado 3008-5A	TBD
68.01,13.37,59.3	* Beauti-Tone Yellow Shout B16-1-0935-3 * Behr Sweet Mustard M260-6 Benjamin Moore Spicy Mustard 2154-20 * Dulux Apricot Brandy 10YY 35/543 * * Dulux Trade Sunflower Symphony 3 20YY 40/608 * * FS595c 13637 * Glidden Apricot Brandy 10YY 35/543 PPG Mayan Treasure 1208-6 RAL Classic Honey Yellow 1005 RAL Design 075 70 60 Sherwin-Williams Trinket 6685 *Valspar Bugle Call 3006-5A *	? Vallejo Model Color Yellow Ochre 70.913 ? ? Reaper MSP Bronzed Highlight 9261 ?

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

[ReducedAirFact]

Greyish Rose	German Four-Color Lozenge
Methuen/CIElab/Source	House Paints and Standards	Hobby Paints
61.28,37.24,10.15	Beauti-Tone Tickled Pink A20-3-1451-4 ** Behr Enamored M150-4 ** Benjamin Moore Genuine Pink 2005-40 Dulux Fashion Front 90RR 30/285 Dulux Trade Ruby Fountain 5 90RR 31/403 Glidden Fashion Front Rose 90RR 30/285 Pantone 702 U PPG Razzberries 1183-5 Sherwin-Williams Tuberose 6578 ** Valspar Doric Pink 1008-3C **	? Vallejo Model Color Old Rose 70.944 ? ? Reaper MSP Monster Maw 9403 ?

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

[Flying Helmut]

Great stuff once again, Daryl!

I have myself used both Vallejo "Yellow Ochre" and "Old Rose" on my planes - I'll have to hunt down some "Medium Grey".

[ReducedAirFact]

I have myself used both Vallejo "Yellow Ochre" and "Old Rose" on my planes - I'll have to hunt down some "Medium Grey".

If you do, and you get to any of the professional house paint stores for reference colors, please let me know if the match is decent. (I'm not sure which are available in England; Dulux perhaps? I put on Little Green equivalents when I can find them, but that's very hit-or-miss.) The entries with question marks are based on online color data rather than actual paint samples, so they come with the caveat, "if the actual paint color is pretty close to the online color". I've found that sometimes there's a good match and sometimes there's a big difference.

[matt56]

As we've come to expect, great stuff here, Daryl! I will dig out the colors I use when I paint my 5-color lozenge camo this coming week and see if anything is a close match. They're all Vallejo paints, so we might have some close-ish matches...will let you know.

Keep up the wonderful work

Always the best,
Matt

[ReducedAirFact]

Hi Matt,
I'll try to do German five-color lozenge colors next. Just have to squeeze it in between other things. :-)

[matt56]

No rush! I know how busy many of us are I'm just happy all of your work and interest is its own thread and there's a place to come for color suggestions.

All the best,
Matt

[matt56]

Here are the five Vallejo colors I use for the bottom 5-color lozenge pattern when I paint my counters boxes.



Once again, I went off of Zoe's post ages ago - took it to my FLGS and matched it to available paints. And, again, they benefit from a drop or two of grey to 'grey' them down a bit.

Light Turquoise 70.840/068
Blue Violet 70.811/046
Golden Yellow 70.948/016
Pink 70.958/040
Grey Blue 70.943/061

In order they are colors 1 to 5 from the pattern - you can see I have marked them as such for my own use, just so I don't mix up what I had originally planned...

I will post a picture of one of the boxes so you can see how they work together.

All the best,
Matt

[matt56]

Here's the box I did for Tim (Flying Helmut) with the bottom colors on the left - I am pretty pleased with the way they go together.



But I am in NO HURRY to try and paint the design on a 1/144 model...

All the best,
Matt