Hi guys,

One of the most difficult themes to me in vietnam war figures painting is to define the correct color of the infantry jungle fatigue.

As I have hundreds of pics here at my computer, I made a compilation using photoshop and here there are some exemples found. Of course light and shadow effects affects the colors, so I tryed to be more impartial when picking the color.

For me, the best colors are 1, 2, 5 and 13. Do you agree? Any comments?

By the way, I´ll have to mix paints to achiev the closest match.



Bye,

Marcelo

I don't know about the colors you have shown. For me, the closest is Testors Model Master Medium Green, FS34102, then drybrushed with some OD Green for fading and dirt/dust with the appropriate colors to match the surrounds (red brown for the Mekong Delta and coastal areas, dark earth for the Central Highlands, etc).

Here is how they come out. (Not the greatest pic, but you can get the idea from the guy on the left.)


Good luck.

Hey Marcelo,
I think and I would go with 14 to 19. They are the closest colors. They'd start looking 14 and fading to no# 13 to 19.





Check out this link, and click on "Photos" next to pic. Sorry I can't recommend a color as I'm unsure which paints you can get your hands on.

Joe

Hi Marcelo,
Hannants Xtracrylics do a spot on Faded Olive Drab and Green Vietnam (FS14102). I use them all the time as a base but they dry a bit glossy. Once weathered and dulcoted they're fine. They dry glossy so they're "decal ready", apparently. But I'd agree with Joe above - 14 and 19 are the best matches...

btw Joe, which is the link we need to click?

Richard

Comparing with an original jacket I have, I'd say use 13 for a basecoat, shadow with 14, and highlight with 12.

Doh I forgot to put in link. Sorry about that.

Here is the uniform link,

Uniforms

Here is the main link with is great for reference photos.

Main Site

Thanks guys!

You realy helped me a lot. I´ll try something close to 13/14 green.

Joe, thanks for the links, they are very usefull!

Bye,

Marcelo

Those colors seem true, for the jungle fatigues.We also wore a 3 or 4 color camoflage pattern of green od and brown,and i believe tan , in 1971,In the Da Nang area .The colors faded very quickly from the sun and whatever mama san washed them in.The camo pattern is still used today ,altho it looks like thier changing to that digital pattern .It was 36 years ago ,but ,if i remember correctly,the majority of us wore the camo pattern

The 1970s cammies came in two varieties. One was green/black/brown/sand, the other was green/black/brown/some other green. You used to see both pretty commonly and they were used interchangably.

In the 1980s when the woodland BDUs came out, the pattern was similar but not precisely the same. IIRC the colors were green, brown, sand and black. There was much more brown in the pattern than in the old jungle fatigures (well, that's what we called them). The cut of the uniform was a little different too, with much wider collars and slightly different pockets.

Danny Egan
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Thos fatigues you talk about were called ERDL. It came in two patterns, green dominant and brown dominant, depending on whichever color was used as the base color. They were cut the same as the normal jungle fatigues. In the 80s BDUs were introduced which utilized a somewhat similiar idea, but with larger blobs, a standard patter. a differently cut uniform, and a different dyeing process. From what I have read it was used almost exclusively by the Marines from about 1968 until the introduction of the BDUs.