Interior Colors of WW2 Panzers

Some models of German AFV allow for a peek inside the interior and it might thus be useful to know how to paint this part of your model. While a lot of good articles and books have been written about this topic, dealing with all the details and exceptions, I'll only give the basics here. Readers with more interest in the matter might consult David Byrdens well-researched article here.

All interior parts were painted in red primer (RAL8012). For the engine compartment, this would be the final color, with the engine block being black. The fighting compartment got an extra layer of paint:

Very early in the war: Elfenbein, i.e. light yellow (RAL1001) for the top parts of the interior, grey-green (RAL7009) for the bottom.
Early in the war until late 1942: light beige (a new variant of Elfenbein ?) for the top parts of the interior, grey-green (RAL7009) for the bottom.
Late 1942 until September 1944: light beige for the top parts of the interior, no extra paint for the bottom which thus remained red primer.
September 1944 until the end of 1944: No extra paint for the entire interior which thus remained red primer.
End of 1944 until the end of the war: light beige for the top parts of the interior, no extra paint for the bottom which thus remained red primer.

The separation between top and bottom is vehicle dependent.

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Article Last Updated: 31 December 2015	Back to Home Page