I am about to paint the old Airfix Coastal Defence Fort and the gun emplacement.  I am trying to find some pictures of how they should be painted. Having visited many bunkers in normady, most were grey concrete, with the odd one having some much weathered camouflage.

Does anyone have information on how what colours they were painted and how common this was.

I think concrete is the way to go. Most I have seen are bare concrete - but this has only been rather after the time of use...

Some where painted with camo, but I think this was fairly uncommon from the photos I have seen. Camo nets seem to have often been used - perhaps to disguise shadows etc - but these would seen be lost once any shooting started.

But for tradition, perhaps you should leave them in the bare green plastic?

Hi Fred,

Thanks for that, I was thinking grey, perhaps with a little bit of camo on it . I also have some cam net, that I picked up years ago that I might use

It has already bean poorly painted so leaving it green is not really an option.

Finnish Bunkers in the Winter War looked glossy black, as the occupants poured water over them and it froze solid adding (in some cases) many inches of additional ice armour to the actual concrete and steel.

But a D Day style Atlantic coastal defense bunker would probably be weathered grey concrete

From Osprey's "Fortress - D-Day Fortifications in Normandy"

"A variety of techniques were used to camouflage defensive works. ... Where possible the bunker would be enclosed in earth and many designs had a shallow depression in the roof specifically to permit a thin covering of earth. Nevertheless, some of the elements of the concrete inevitably were visible. The most common approach was to use camouflage netting for the larger structures. In the case of gun casements, the forward side of the casement was almost always covered by a camouflage net to hide the embrasure. On the enfiladed casements hooked extensions of rebar were allowed to protrude from the concrete to act as anchors for the camouflage. ... Other forms of camouflage were also used such as pattern-painted camouflage, textured concrete and paint, or structural disguises to make the bunkers appear like civilian structures. "


Sentry thinks: "Ha! They may see the bunker, but the gun is camouflaged. The Tommies won't know what hit them!"

He will also be knocked over when he does not see the gun traversing as its camouflaged.

Thanks Nobby

Have a look at the last few minutes of this video.