German Tank markings in 1945

[Nick]

I've got this pair of lovely little Jaguarundi tanks. I am finally happy with the paint scheme. But what about unit markings?
https://www.kingkit.co.uk/product/pegasus-hobbies-military-1-72-7606-p-245-010-tanks-jaguarundi
I can't find any clear answer as to what would appear on Wehrmacht tanks. Even the Iron Cross changes style and position at random and there's no real sense of unit codes. What would you do?

[Old Wombat]

From what I can gather, the white "outline" cross of 4 x L-shaped lines was the accepted standard for the period & whatever camouflage-like paint the troops could find over factory-painted "dunkelgelb" of reducing quality as the end of the war approached.

These links may help (especially the last two):

https://panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage

https://agtom.eu/en/content/25-pojazdy-niemieckie-z-ii-ws

https://mistertretiakpresents.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/world-war-2-german-camouflage-and-tactical-markings-part-i/

https://mistertretiakpresents.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/world-war-2-german-camouflage-and-tactical-markings-part-2/

[Snowtrooper]

Of course, by late 1944 even the factories were running out of paint, so some tanks (or just the turret or hull) were delivered only in the red-brown corrosion protection (and camouflage, if any, was applied directly on top of that). Some factories used the green paint reserved for equipment and unarmoured vehicles, or old stocks of Panzergrau. There's anecdotal evidence of an all-grey King Tiger in the Battle of Berlin.

The camo paint was supplied to frontline units as paste, which was supposed to be diluted before applying. Problem was, the paste was oil based, and even paint oils were in short supply, so the troops improvised and diluted the paint with whatever liquid was at hand - water, turpentine, alcohol, methanol, glycerol, milk (!). This of course meant that the paint might not spread very well, or become too watery and run in streams, change hue, etc.

By 1945, tactical markings and unit insignia were the least concern. It could be literally chalked up and look very sloppy. As the paper formations were ground down and organized to ad hoc battlegroups it was meaningless to maintain a percise numbering system.

[rickshaw]

German paints were supplied in a paste form.  The paste could be thinned by petrol or water.  The water thinned paint did not last as long as the petral thinned paint.  Tanks were initially supplied, until about 1944 in Grey from the factories.  In 1944 it changed to a Desert yellow base.  In 1945 it changed again (for the last few months of the war) to a green base.

Markings were originally only a white Cross in 1939 but when it was discovered how good an aiming mark this was for anti-tank gunners, it was quickly changed to the white outline with the centre painted black.  As the war progressed, the Cross became a black one outlined in white.

In 1941, a system of numbers and symbols was applied for the first time to tanks and other armoured vehicles which denoted the Regimental number, Company number and Platoon number with special symbols denoting the commander and adjutant.   As the war progressed, units often stopped painting those numbers/symbols on vehicles.

This is all explained in the Panzercolors books from Squadron/Signal publications.