Panzer iv turret interior colour

[langy71]

A quick question if I may,

What would be the your best guess estimate of the interior colour of a Panzer iv ?...or any German Tank ?

I keep coming back to 'ivory white', ..(I'm sure I've read that somewhere), however I can't not think that would be a bit of a camouflage faux par, as an open hatch would stick out like a sore thumb when the vehicle is parked up and 'camouflaged'..(this thought goes way back to when I was serving in the Infantry and as part of our field craft we were taught about Cam and Concealment, of which anything light coloured (not army green) was hidden away never to be used in the field, due to it being a potential aiming point).

I did think that my best attempt would be to paint them the same colour as the Hull...I'm just not sure ..! or maybe a slightly lighter version to give a bit of contrast without becoming to 'white' ?

Your advice please folks

 

[adt70hk]

Hi Chris

Not an expert but everything I've read says interior hatch colour same as the outside for the reasons you've articulated.

ATB

Andrew

 

[Allen Dewire]

Morn Chris,

Most armored vehicles before 1943 would have had the inside of the hatches painted the same as the outside color (Panzer gray). Most also had padding on the hatch too. After 1943, when they changed to Dunkelgelb, again the inside of the hatches would be painted in that color. I'm talking about tanks that had hatches that opened up to show the inside to the air above.

Some later models were also painted red oxide on the inside of the hatch as factories didn't have the paint. Interior color is mostly an off white or ivory white inside. A lot of late war tanks were left in red oxide color in the interior, again due to lack of supplies of paint. HTH's.

Prost
Allen

 

[BattleshipBob]

I have a picture of StuG Ausf E on the production line with the inside of the hatches ivory white, so i assume the colour was changed in the field.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Morn Bob,

Hope you are well Buddy.........At first, with German air superiority, it wasn't a big factor. As the tide turned (in the east) survival was foremost against air attack. Most of the earlier vehicles came out of the factories with them white. Later, not so much, as the OKW made changes about panzer production almost every day and of course, field mods work also played a big role..........

Prost
Allen

 

[BattleshipBob]

Not too bad Allen, you well i hope?

Good point, always a bit of debate about interiors and with not many orginal vehicles around sure it will go on and on

 

[Steve Jones]

I keep coming back to 'ivory white', ..(I'm sure I've read that somewhere), however I can't not think that would be a bit of a camouflage faux par, as an open hatch would stick out like a sore thumb when the vehicle is parked up and 'camouflaged'..(this thought goes way back to when I was serving in the Infantry and as part of our field craft we were taught about Cam and Concealment, of which anything light coloured (not army green) was hidden away never to be used in the field, due to it being a potential aiming point).

I did think that my best attempt would be to paint them the same colour as the Hull...I'm just not sure ..! or maybe a slightly lighter version to give a bit of contrast without becoming to 'white' ?

Your certainly correct in your summation Chris. The Ivory (Elfenbein RAL 1001) interior colour would have indeed been seen not only by the allied air force but more inportantly their artillery units. So the inside of the hatch doors were coloured Panzergrau as the same colour as the outside of the vehicle. However on 18 February 1943, all vehicles were ordered to be painted in a base coat of Dunkelgelb RAL 7028. This was a dark yellow colour. Areas visible from the outside of the vehicle were generally painted in the this colour. However, there are photographs showing Elfenbein on the inside of hatch doors even on these vehicles. If I was a tank commander out in the field I would be making sure the interior colour of any open hatches were promptly painted in a dark colour from the supply store

In September 1944, an order went out to stop using the Ivory paint and leave the tanks entirely red inside. There were loud complaints, and at the very end of 1944 the Ivory paint was officially reinstated.

 

[Jakko]

The above applies to most armies and vehicles, WWII and today and anything in between. There are some exceptions, but they’re few and far between; one of those I can think of is that on LVT Buffalos, the insides of the crew hatches of most (but not all) were white rather than olive drab. But as a general rule of thumb, just paint the insides of all outward-opening hatches with the exterior colour — unless you know that’s wrong, it’s probably right.

 

[langy71]

Thanks for the replies folks, (it's always good when you can pull on the knowledge of others to help) ..

here's where I'm at with this build so far..

they're not the best pics due to crappy lighting... but you'll get the idea