I like German armor in North Africa. If you like variety in German armor Kursk is a good subject matter with PZ 2, PZ 3, IV, Tiger I, etc, etc. The best book out there period is this one. It can be hard to find and expensive but a must if you like German and Soviet armor in WW2.
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J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing are the best reference books for modelers and the rest can be crap and a waste of time and money.
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A general rule I tell those who are new to German armor. 1939 to 1945 the trend goes from small to large in terms of both armor thickness and armament size and the paint schemes base colors go from dark grey to dark yellow.
1939 to early 1943 dark grey.
mid 1943 to mid 1944 dunkelgelb aus DG '43 (dark yellow)
mid 1944 to late 1944 dunkelgelb aus DG '44 I (dark yellow but a lighter shade)
late 1944 to 1945/wars end dunkelgelb aus DG '44 II (lightest shade of dark yellow, almost a yellow cream color).
I highly recommend AK interactive and AMMO by MIG Productions books.
I really like 1945 Colors for late war subjects since the book comes with a very well presented color pallette to study showing each color used by the Germans and how they appear in shadow, light, neutral and weathered.
I really like Panzewrecks store, they have so many wonderful books.
Nate, nice overview.
Do you also have a concise summary for Tropen 1 & 2 for Africa?
T2 is probably overlooked more often than it should be as it also shows up in Russia.
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The early war colours were dark grey PLUS dark brown, up to the French campaign at least.
Plus, there were a lot of vehicles in the two “tropical” schemes.
David
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You have been given some really sound suggestions. If you don’t mind a little more input. For me the Chamberlin book is a great starting point. After that I collect several books on each subject I am building.
I wish to throw an additional question now that the reference folks are awake. I am looking for reference color photos of knocked out Panzers. I am doing a diorama. Does someone publish a book of this nature? I have plenty of black and white photos but that does not show the various colors after a tank burns.
@TopSmith Greg, no promises on the veracity of any of these images but thought you might find them of interest for discussion purposes.
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I suggest doing an image search for “burned out tank”, “burned tank Ukraine”, “tank wreck”, or something similar in your favorite search engine and browsing the pictures you find. Recent pictures captured using modern cameras show what happens in very gory detail. To be clear, I am referring to the colors, textures, and weathering effects you will see, not the results of shell hits on specific vehicles. Burned out cars, trains, and trucks will also demonstrate what happens to metal, paint, and plastics. In my opinion, old pictures are just too far gone for this sort of research. The best old pictures are someone’s colorized guess.
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Check out Panzer wreaks series of books.
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