I've known Bill for a while now, he's up on his research as much as anyone I've met.

Bottom line is, with the amount of equipment and machines being built in different areas during a war, there's going to be a wide range of suppliers and methods, despite RAL charts, etc. especially with primer. I bet they vary by batch number, even more so as raw supplies become scarce.

Field applied top coats and camo were even more varied once you account for how they thinned the concetrated paint (water, fuel, oil). Then you have the crew applied stuff: mud camo, whitewash, etc. I have photos of a few tanks covered with chalk scribble.

You could drive yourself nuts trying to be 'accurate' and still be way off. Best bet is to either use a specific photo and copy it completely or whip out that artistic license and have fun.

If I ever get the Tammy KV-2, I'm finishing it as it was one of the non-painted, factories workers jumping in and driving it out the front door into battle versions. In my mind it'd be a rust covered mess without tools, possibly no fenders, just a slogan slapped on the side.