View Full Version : German MG5 color scheme
Not sure what the Germans call this particular color, but doesn't it somewhat stand out rather than blend in to a woodland environment?
https://i.imgur.com/WI9Qdvvl.jpg
Averageman
02-15-20, 09:14
My experience with the German Army and camouflage is that they are pretty good at it.
That does look a shade bright to me through.
It looks brand new. Let it get worn in and dirty, and it'll darken up. I also tend to think of this in relative terms. Does this stand out as bad as a black weapon does in the desert? Or is it a net improvement? I also wonder if they're playing the FN "Fifty Shades of FDE" game and this is just one shade at the lighter/oranger end of the spectrum.
I just assumed they were going with FDE (or whatever they call it there EDIT: “RAL8000” I think.) as the default color on some of their new weapons was because of an assumption that the most likely place they would deployed in actual combat would be in an arid/desert environment (In other words, the Mideast).
Looks like Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 (dark yellow).
From February, 1943 all German vehicles used RAL 7028 as their base color. The MG pictured resembles that.
Looks like Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 (dark yellow).
From February, 1943 all German vehicles used RAL 7028 as their base color. The MG pictured resembles that.
My thoughts too. Also late war German, ammo cans, binoculars and other small items were dunkelgelb, often mistaken to be Afrika corp issue. With vehicles it was a good base to add other colors for camo purposes.
In the photo above, that looks like the environment that flectern camo was effective in with the red accents.
Some of HK's promotional materials mention a color called "RAL8000" which is presumably the color of the MG5 above. Much like FDE, it supposedly has various shades, also depending on the type of coating, whether it's applied to steel/aluminum/plastic, etc. In some pictures it appears as a more mustard brown tone.
https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/products/military/assault-rifles/hk417/hk417-a2-13/technical-data.html
SomeOtherGuy
02-15-20, 15:54
It looks very similar to Aervoe "earth yellow," which is in the US Army color inventory/database. It is pretty bright when new and clean.
I love baby poop yellow.
Yeah, I think it's planned for a desert environment. Germans don't plan on fighting in Europe anytime soon.
Looks like RAL8000 to me.... it was the hot color in the cerakote world a while back.... used a lot of it in the shop. German baby poop is a solid description, but does blend well in a lot of environments.
hotrodder636
02-15-20, 18:36
Another vote for RAL8000. HK and other have used that before and a more FDE/brownish tone to give that SCAR multicolor look.
MountainRaven
02-15-20, 21:40
RAL8000.
H&K is pretty much going to that for all their military contracts, including German military contracts, unless they spec a black gun.
It's brown, brown works everywhere (we went through this like fifteen years ago, when SOCOM started buying guns in FDE).
Oh, and if you leave your RAL8000 G36 in the sun for hours on end, its zero shifts less than when you leave a black G36 laying in the sun for hours on end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfPHZFsw40M
Belmont31R
02-15-20, 22:05
I actually really like the color scheme on HK's current guns https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/products/military/assault-rifles/hk416-a5/hk416-a5-145/overview.html
That gun in the OP will darken up with use and cleaning to become a nice earth shade.
I love baby poop yellow.
Yeah, I think it's planned for a desert environment. Germans don't plan on fighting in Europe anytime soon.
Rhodesian FAL's were baby poop yellow. Not exactly a desert environment.
It does have a sort of cool "Afrika Korps" vibe going on:
https://i.imgur.com/hyb1gTPl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uAeVyDQl.jpg
Not sure who makes their G22A2, but it has a noticeably different color:
https://i.imgur.com/XSwk6fgl.jpg
Rhodesian FAL's were baby poop yellow. Not exactly a desert environment.
South Africa is kinda a desert environment. I know it's nothing like central Africa, but still.
SomeOtherGuy
02-16-20, 20:10
Rhodesian FAL's were baby poop yellow. Not exactly a desert environment.
I've read that they used whatever paint was available because literally anything was less visible than solid black. And being in remote Africa in the 60's and 70's, it was mostly automotive paint, so you may see bright canary yellow and medium blue as Rhodesian FAL colors.
The H&K MG might actually be ral8000, just remember that H&K used at least three shades they called that and more variations if you consider material types.
Also that the cerakote ral 8000 is much yellower than the same code on the RAL paint chips.
On the RAL paint chips RAL 8000 Green Olive. I'd call it brown with a hint of Olive. But it sure not mustard yellow.
What a lot of people are passing as RAL8000 is cerakote, and it's a lot closer to "Gold Olive" in the ral charts. Much closer to 1027 or 1004. Or even Dunkelgelb RAL7028. Since it's their signature color you think cerakote would have it right.
This is especially noticeable on cerakoted plastic versus molded in colors.
Now go ask about Olive colors WW-2 to current. Across US (fs595) and eurocentric (RAL).
I've read that they used whatever paint was available because literally anything was less visible than solid black. And being in remote Africa in the 60's and 70's, it was mostly automotive paint, so you may see bright canary yellow and medium blue as Rhodesian FAL colors.
LAV has a good You Tube video on the Rhodesian FAL. I don't recall if he addressed that specific subject beyond the yellow.
Brasilnuts
02-17-20, 06:19
So these pictures were taken as a photo op to showcase this gun?
Camouflage man.... camouflage gun.... not much to see there.
I’m guessing that’s why they went with Grey Poupon..... contrast.
Brasilnuts
02-17-20, 06:20
Double
I’m guessing you have painting or related experience as I was going to post a similar reply. Most are unaware of the RAL or FS595 charts.
The H&K MG might actually be ral8000, just remember that H&K used at least three shades they called that and more variations if you consider material types.
Also that the cerakote ral 8000 is much yellower than the same code on the RAL paint chips.
On the RAL paint chips RAL 8000 Green Olive. I'd call it brown with a hint of Olive. But it sure not mustard yellow.
What a lot of people are passing as RAL8000 is cerakote, and it's a lot closer to "Gold Olive" in the ral charts. Much closer to 1027 or 1004. Or even Dunkelgelb RAL7028. Since it's their signature color you think cerakote would have it right.
This is especially noticeable on cerakoted plastic versus molded in colors.
Now go ask about Olive colors WW-2 to current. Across US (fs595) and eurocentric (RAL).
Diamondback
02-18-20, 00:37
I’m guessing you have painting or related experience as I was going to post a similar reply. Most are unaware of the RAL or FS595 charts.
Coulda been a modeler as a kid... something like SIX different FS greens on a Nam-era B-52 IIRC.
I’m guessing you have painting or related experience as I was going to post a similar reply. Most are unaware of the RAL or FS595 charts.Not really a modeler, I have a Pinzgauer. Mine is ex Swiss military, and they used a very specific RAL color. Completely different from the RAL Olive that Austrian mil Pinz's used. Which is in itself completely different from the RAL olive that the Germans used on unimogs and kubbles.
And of course everyone wants to use the fairly available FS 595 Olives, and some of them are close but none of them match.
So I have paint chips and an assortment of spray cans in the fs595 olives that I've done test sprays with to figure out what to do on mine.
I also fool with military radios, PRC 104, PRC 77, sem35, VIC-1 intercom, etc. Which in one case I had to repaint accurately.
For what it's worth I settled on the USMC Olive for my Pinzgauer, though I've not painted it. The fs 595 paints are available here much less expensively than getting the right RAL olive paint mixed or purchased.
I'm not looking for military accuracy my truck is highly modified, and I like the USMC green.
BTW, RAL8000 was a standard euro vehicle option. (Unimogs) At that time Austria tended towards very Brown looking Olive, and Germany was a little bit in that direction though their camo patterns had more of a forest green element.
The yellow that cerakote calls ral8000 (I think it's really dunkelgelb 7028 "double gold") was a very common European construction vehicle color a while back. Tractors, roadwork, etc.
In fact's not that far from what used to be some of the standard construction vehicle colors in the US. Which is why I smirk a bit when I see military guns painted in what to me looks like construction high visibility yellow.
It's not unheard of to have mustard as a color and a camo pattern. But it's a bit odd to have a yellow to mustard solid.
WW2 Germany did use dunkelgelb as a base coat during one period for Africa vehicles, But the field units were expected to cover one-third of the vehicle with a different color, typically one of their grays or browns.
They changed camo patterns and colors a couple dozen times through the war. Most of it was attempts at standardization offset by difficulty in getting materials and also the very wide range of terrains that they were unwisely fighting in.
At one point they just shipped vehicles in primer and the field units were expected to camo it per local needs. Then they got clever and realized that they had three different colors of red to Brown primer and started mixing them or using pattern spraying.
So anyone who says "well the Germans did paint their vehicles solid yellow during world war 2" is right, sort of. They would equally be right saying they painted them solid gray, or solid Brown as they did that as well during different periods. Grey more than anything... If I had to pick one color that most represents world war II German vehicles it would be their Gray.
MountainRaven
02-18-20, 12:01
Dunkelgelb actually means, "dark yellow". And was the standard German tank camouflage base color from February 1943. So some iconic German tanks were never painted Dunkelgrau.
Bovington Tank Museum's Tiger 131 is painted in RAL8000 (Grünbraun) and RAL7008 (Graugrün) - the former being the color H&K uses on most of their long guns and the latter being the color H&K uses as the frame color for their "FDE" VP9.
As Slater mentioned it is RAL8000. Aka baby poop yellow/brown.
As Slater mentioned it is RAL8000. Aka baby poop yellow/brown.
I still remember those limited edition baby poop yellow desert 91s and 93s.
Dunkelgelb actually means, "dark yellow". And was the standard German tank camouflage base color from February 1943. So some iconic German tanks were never painted Dunkelgrau.
Bovington Tank Museum's Tiger 131 is painted in RAL8000 (Grünbraun) and RAL7008 (Graugrün) - the former being the color H&K uses on most of their long guns and the latter being the color H&K uses as the frame color for their "FDE" VP9.Some nuances... The german flag is described as red/black/gold. Yet the "gold" is really a yellow (ral 1021) that is pretty close to the colors I mentioned some of the cerokote "ral 8000" guns looked like.
So its apparently pretty common in german common usage to refer to darker yellows as gold. They do have a color for metallic gold... "Gold".
Post german classes in school, most of my german comes from Austrian and Swiss guys talking mil and civvy vehicles. Thats where I've heard it as double gold.
As to german armor colors, it was way more complicated than that. From memory the solid dunkelgelb was not a very long period. Also, also much strident objection about many german tanks in museums being mispainted... its because there were so many variations in both tank revisions, mfg camo, and unit camo, etc. You think our clone guys are whacko??? :)
There is much conjecture as to why dunkelgelb... Most speculation is that it was holdover from pre-war... Most tractors and similar were dunkelgelb. And for africa, maybe not a horrendous base coat choice.
Most common folks would describe real RAL 8000 as a brown. Not the mustardy yellow some are floating. Here's an online example, just remember not all monitors are accurate: https://www.myperfectcolor.com/paint/75313-ral-8000-green-brown-paint
See a real RAL 8000 vehicle live and you would call it brown. (Bunch of unimogs and overlanders in RAL 8000)
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