The infamous Dunkelgelb raises its head!
All I can say at this point is that Vallejo are going to release some new paints in the model air range that cover Dunkelgelb accurately from 1943 to 1945.
As a retired (hurt) Army Officer I now keep myself busy with modelbuilding and vehicle restorer currently working on restoring some later WWII German panzers to full working order I know exactly what shades of Dunkelgelb there are... and believe me, apart from the first iriteration (Dunkelgelb Nach Muster (Dark Yellow after sample/pattern)) it was changed.
The following photos are of modern reproductions of original formulas from shade cards made for my by a company in Germany from their own Chipset & document archive. The company, still going supplies the current German military with paint and supplied the factories and field repair units (amongst other companies) in WWII.
Dunkelgelb Nach Muster (Dark Yellow After Pattern/sample). This was the first shade produced and was used from February 1943 until the end of the Kursk offensive (operation Citadel. this was the colour that was originally applied to go into the RAL register as RAL 7028 (you won't rind it in todays register). Troops at the front complained that it was too bright.
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so when building German armour this is the base colour to use from February 1943 to the end of operation citadel and associated operations.
In August 1942 RAL 7028 was accepted into the RAL register but was changed from the above shade due to complaints from the front. The shade that went into the RAL register and was used as base coat on all vehicles from August 1943 until 1944 was this:
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This I personally call Dunkelgelb I A much more earthier tone.
From around June 1944 until November /December 1944 the colour changed again and although resembling the RAL8020 base coat of the Afrika Korps it is actually darker.
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Allied intelligence reports on knocked out and captured vehicles in Normandy noted that base coats of these vehicles often differed. which gives us a nice between dates that new vehicles coming into the line on the German side would have this base colour while the older vehicles would have the previous colour.
The above colour I call Dunkelgelb II
The last variant of RAL 7028 appeared in November/December 1944 and proceeded until the end of the war. From January 1945 all Vehicles base coats became RAL 6003 Which was field tested on Tiger II tanks during Operation Panzerfaust in Budapest October 1944
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You can clearly see that this vehicle's running gear is NOT dunkelgelb.
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Above is the last variant of RAL 7028, or Dunkelgelb III as I call it. A much subdued variant of Dunkelgelb Nach Muster!
Those were the official chipset colours. Alternatives may, on occasion have been used depending on supply disruption. I will say right now that AK's Real Color 7028 set do not match these colours!
James