Hello - I have searched high & low - can someone help please.

I am looking to discover the official paint colours used on the above models during WW2.

I use Tamiya and Gunze aryclics.

Hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks.....Iain

The Soviets had NO standardized colors so, in effect, any dark green is correct. Yes, it's THAT simple...

The dark green colour used is usually stated to be 4BO, but as Jim says, 'standard' is a bit of a hope rather than reality. There are a whole string of attempts to match to FS numbers (usually circling around 34102), but again no concensus. It's a question that gets asked on here quite frequently and you can have fun paging through the suggestions. As for the real thing, there's this



I don't think this is tinted photo and it has an air recognition triangle on the turret hatch, about the only sort of marking ever seen on a KV-2 - stay away from the patriotic slogans

David

Hey that's great - thanks. As for the slogans - well they look good and that's about it! Many thanks........Iain

hi , the kV 2 never had slogans on the side of the turret in the 50 books and several thousands of photos I have researched I have yet to come across a single tank marked up . the only markings are on the turret lid , either a white circle or white triangle . cheers ian

The official color card for Russian 4BO Protective Green has been matched by current Russian historians to FS 34102 in the US FS-595a color book. (Steve Zaloga has matched it to a slightly browner shade, but the difference is probably within the margin of error of most paint factories). Fortunately, this color is available in many hobby paint lines as a USAF camouflage color. There would be lots of variation due to the wartime conditions, of course, but it's helpful to have a starting point, anyway.

Hi,

indeed no single pic of a KV-II with patriotic slogans is known to me, too. But look here:

http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/images/kv-2_113.jpg

http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/images/kv-2_235.jpg

http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/images/kv-2_377.jpg

On the turrets 'back door' there is a '4' in a diamond which maybe a marking applied by the soviets. Another interesting one:

http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/images/kv-2_654.jpg

http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/images/kv-2_312.jpg

The site (http://mechcorps.rkka.ru/files/kv2/kv2.htm) at all is highly recommended for KV-II ref!

Greetings

Volker

With respect, no, it isn't the case that there was no standard. There was, as other posters have noted. Whether every factory had a supply of the same shade of paint is a separate question, but with the very highly centralized soviet economy I see no reason to believe their paint would be any less standardized than anyone else's.

Hi Dany, indeed, I think they had standards in painting their vehicles. Therefore they weren't painted grey or dark yellow

And yes they may have had rules and standards for many things, but compared to western european or american thinking, the soviets/russians didn't suffer from that 'versionitis' and pressing EVERYTHING into certain, narrow standards. Even not nowadays. Take the naming convention for their tanks (KV/T-34) as an example. Or the sometimes garish camo application to aircraft and tanks (even recent ones!).

By the way: do you know the saying "Moscow is far away" ? Back to the topic, I'd support the usage of different shades of darker green for GPW-tanks, if alone for the altering of color appearance by wheather and usage.

Just my opinion.

Greets

Volker

That would be my interpretation as well - the fact that from june/july '41, they had to move a large part of their industry behind the Urals indicates that color standardization was the least of their worries.

Even in the initial stages of the 'Great Patriotic War', corruption was still rife - most of the 'aparatchniks' of Soviet Heavy Industry were chosen for their political correctness rather than their efficiency as managers. Supplies were limited - vast stocks of materiel had been lost and had to be replenished the priorities in the Petro-Chemical industry were POL rather than standardized shades of paint so the picture was one of chaos and a brutal 'definition' of priorities.

Therefore, I would tend to go for a later (around 1943?) as a period when they COULD begin to standardize paint color - even then it wouldn't, IMO, have carried much in the way of priority... So yes, I still stand by my original statement in that the factors at play would indicate that as long as an approximation of 'Soviet Green' was used, there wouldn't have been too many questions asked...

I spent A LOT of time researching this info over one week & came up with the following:

There were, apparently, 3 specs for WW2 Soviet armour - 4BO (dk olive-green close to FS x4127), 6K (dk brown/black close to FS x0117), 7K (sand/ochre) - however the "official" one is similar to FS x4102. The green was reportedly based on this mix: 40-60% yellow ochre, 15-20% zinc chromate, 10-20% white, 8-13% ultramarine.
T-34's & KV-1's reportedly left the factory (we know of course there were many) in a shade similar to FS x4052.

Over time colour swatches have been matched to the FS table thus:
1945 sample: 34095
1950's samples: 34062, 34089, 34096, 34087, 34257

Therefore from a modelling perspective, the colours could be, from lightest to darkest:
34257, 34102, 34096, 34095, 34087, 34062, 34052

A complex subject, but as you can see, just about anything goes. I think it would be safe to assume though, that early war armour would be a lighter shade than a tank built close to the time of the final push into Berlin