West German Tanks - Planning Colours - AKA Paints and Stuff

So I have a bunch of new TY West Germans. Normally when I start a new army, I look up the paint chart, see what I have already and usually buy a new pot or find something similar from my existing collection. I occasionally vary slightly from the suggested colours following my own research.

So with the new colours of war paint range being listed in the painting guides, I need to rethink my approach. I have listed below what I have ended up with as I am too lazy to write it down as a method to help you in planning your new West German force.

So a new army in a new rule set gives me a whole new opportunity to try some new techniques. I will be incorporating some new ideas into my plan below.

First up, WHAT to paint:

The Germans used standard camouflage patterns, meaning all the vehicles of the same type had the same pattern. Battlefront have also published some camouflage templates here.  

Next the paints. I came across a Vajello to colours of war chart on the FOW site here. Sadly this must have been published before leopard so wont be 100% useful.

I will start with my new white spray undercoat. This has helped to brighten my models after I switched from the old black undercoat.

I then came across a cool post from SonBae on WWPD who clearly went through a similar process to me. In the article he finds replacements for the 3 main tank colours. I will shamelessly steal these suggestions. I had 2 of these already and picked up the 3rd from my local store.

Nato Green - 71-022 Camouflage Green.

Worn Rubber - 862 Black Gray

Woodland Brown - 72-043 Beastly Brown.

Other colours needed will be the light highlight of Iraqi sand in place of dry dust. I will use flat earth for weathering on the tracks and road wheels. I normally use this colour for spade handles too. I will use my ancient GW bolt gun metal with black poured into the bottle for any metal on the models.

For the new, I will be using a gloss spray and then Tamiya Panel line after I finish up the base coat and before a matt varnish.

It is said that no battle plan survive contact with the enemy, so lets see if this is the final plan. I will also need to develop my infantry plan too.

I hope you find this useful.