What is the basic color for a Nam m48a3?
Thanks
Wayne

Semi Gloss Olive Drab FS 24087 for Army vehicles. Marine vehicles were finished in Marine Corps Green.
The Model Master FS 34087 shade is based on the lighter flat Olive Drab shade introduced for helicopters in 1965. The FS-595a color book had its chip changed to match this shade in 1967, which made a hash of the book's color system (the number codes actually do attempt to reflect hue and chroma). The recent editions of the FS-595b color book avoid the issue by omitting the FS 34087 chip entirely. Unfortunately, most Olive Drab model paints (except Tamiya's acrylic and the original Humbrol 66 enamel) are matched to this revised chip, which is really only applicable to Army helicopters from 1965 to about 1974. The original shade was quite dark, and some units added black to the basic color at the whim of the divisional commander, a practice that apparently started in the 1950's.
Olive Drab was dropped in 1974 in favor of the four-color MERDC cammo, which used FS 34079 as a base color. There were twelve colors to choose from, based on where a unit was to operate, but the whole scheme was just too manpower intensive, and by the 1980's, many units left their vehicles in 34079 overall. In the late 1980's, the present three-color NATO camouflage was adopted.