Painting the Iltis

Which colour, or color?

Iltises the world over come in a multitude of different colours... all of them green or khaki, none of them the same.  I had no idea how many different military greens, olive drabs, and khakis there were until I tried to get "the right" colour for my Iltis.

German Roots

The original VW Iltis (aka the Type 183) was painted using the German colour standards.  The initial customer for the Iltis in the German military was the Bundeswehr (the "Federal Defence Force")  The colour they were painted before 1984 was RAL 6014 (olive green) and after 1984 as part of the NATO colour scheme they adopted RAL 6031 as a replacement, often used with brown and black to make the appropriate NATO camo pattern.

Type 181 for illustration purposes
http://vw181.skynetblogs.be/archive/2007/05/09/ral-numbers.html

Canadian

The Canadian Bombardier Iltis, to the best of my knoledge, was painted by Bombardier using either a solid NATO green colour or NATO camo pattern.  It is unclear to me if there were different runs of Iltis'es which might have come from the factory already camo painted, or if they were all produced in solid green and later painted at the depot.  The American colour coding scheme is standardized in FS595 "Federal Standard 595C - Colors Used in Government Procurement" revision C is the latest.  

Using that standard, I believe the Canadian military Iltises were painted FS 34094.
http://www.fed-std-595.com/FS-595-Paint-Spec.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Standard_595

http://hedgehoghollow.com/buzz/Colour_Guide/army_clr.html

What did I buy?

Right colour, wrong vehicle

Through a strange twist of fate, I purchased American Coatings paint in 34052, which is WWII United States Marine Corp Lusterless Forrest Green... it looks *very* close to the original Iltis paint, and in the opinion of the expert from whom I bought the paint, looks like a weathered version of the original.  True or not, I went with it.  Now I plan to paint the entire Iltis in 34052.  The initial eight rims which I had sandblasted and painted professionally look absolutely fantastic.

 

Willy's Acres

My 1985 Iltis - Current Paint

In you're looking for paint, Willy's Acres is a leading paint vendor and supplier of parts to many hobby restoration enthusiasts across Canada.  Not always the cheapest, but very friendly and capable of helping you repair your Jeep, Iltis, Tank or Artillery... 
Not kidding!