Hi To all.
After many years of painting & building WW2 German figures, vehicles etc I have decided to try my hand at WW2 US armour, vehicles & figures but need help in choosing paint colours to suit. These vary from 1 manufacturer to another but vary in shade too much to mix and match, so any help would be much appreciated. i'm sure you guys out there can help.
Many thanx and I await your replys
Kenny.

hi.. try this website for allied figures..



and to keep it fair and balanced here is the same only for the Axis

[url=http://www.hat.com/ColorsWWIIb.html

hope this helps.. I plan to do figures soon and these sites are helping me get a start.

US stuff - for Tamiya go with Olive Drab XF-62 as the base. There is Red Brown XF-64 and Flat Black XF-1 These will get you the basic three color camo.
Then you can toss in Dark Yellow XF-XF60, Khaki XF-49, Buff XF-57, Flat Earth XF-5
Tint for different shades with flat white

Here's thier color chart
http://www.nittanylinehobbies.com/detail/scale/color%20chart.html

The standard definition for US WWII armour color should be "Olive drab". I've read an article from Steve Zaloga (I think on Military Modelling but I'm not 100%) about this particular color in which he states that during the conflict the spec for the color itself changed at least twice. This article generated lots of replies very single one saying something different about it. I personally use as a base Tamiya XF-62 not because it is the most correct, but because I feel comfortable with Tamyia acrylics. Anyway I think that the "right" color shoul be really the right one if you want to reproduce a vehichle just uot of the factory, because the weather and the use cause big changes in how the colour appears, so if you're going to weather it any olive drab shoud be fine... at least in my view.
Ciao

Amen, Fabio, that is exactly right, IMHO. And, Kenny, the colors differ between manufacturers today just as they did in real life. You look at historical color pics, and they are anything but uniform in color. I actually like this, as it gives a little artistic license to a very basic (read dull) "olive drab" army. Paint it so it looks right to you, and enjoy it.

Mike

Thanx to every one for their thoughts, I usually use humbrol enamels to paint with, so is there any advantages on using the Tamiya acrylics over using enamels?

If you're comfortable with Humbrol enamels, stay with them. Tamiya, while it has its advocates, some very dedicated, can be very frustrating. As an acrylic, it's touchy in an airbrush. When brushing, it develops a skin very quickly but this will lift up very easily if a second coat (or even another brush stroke) is applied too soon. Further, mixing colors on a palette, such as getting a good flesh tone, leaves you with a blob of dries paint long before you get a good cover on anything larger than 1/72 scale figure. Thinning it down to keep it from drying results in paint that's too thin to adhere. Compared to other companies, the range of colors is quite limited and none have official reference numbers, such as FS34087 or RLM35.