Who makes a good acrylic paint and what color shade is good for Russian WWII Armor?

Testors Model Master Acryl # 4807 Russian Armor Green. I have not used it yet, though my bro -callsign "PvtParts" is in the middle of using it. I can ask him to post his results/opinion here later.

Not shure about acrylic but the good choice can be Revell's SM361 enamel. It's very close to official 4BO color. The usual mistake of many foreign (for my point of view ) paintmakers is a lot of brown in the paint. Be carefull -- it's not the american OD -- it's the russian 4BO! :-) The main coloured component was the chromium oxide -- the really GREEN one... All the portion of brown, yellow or other "earth" colors is nothing more but the dust and dirt ON the paint but not IN it.

Also some production runs of AFVs (especially in 1934-44) vere painted in the real american OD -- we received the paints and some pigments as a part of lend-lease.

Best regards and happy modelling

I've just gotten a handful of Valejo acrylics. I haven't sprayed the #894 Russian Green yet, but it looks good.

One things for sure ...... dont get too hung up on the correct colour for Russian armor. If the green you got looks near enough, then it is near enough! With the Russian philosophy of quantity rather than quality, economics for paint and general weathering, no two tanks probably looked the same. Not a sure rule, but one that will explain any variation. A guy who posts on Stockholm IPMS page uses mixes of warhammer paints as thats all he can get, and he has some fine work. As Lis says above, weathering is a major factor in what people percieve to be russian green
Look at the WW2 Russian gallery on Missing links and see the variation of greens on all the models. Some of these guys go to extremes to get the 100% exact shade. They cant all be right??

Hm-m... Can't be agree with tis sentence. The 4BO color was standart for Soviet WWII armour all through a war. It's very simple in recipe and the main component was always the same -- chromium oxide with practically no others. The only reason for [b]minor[/d] shade differences can be the drying oil medium. The pait comes from the plants in the form of the thick paste and must be thinned by the 50/50% druing oil/gasoline mixture. In the case drying oil wasn't available the only gasoline can be used. But it changed the colour within very small limits. Also the paint colour was strictly controlled by military representatives at the plants. So the tanks going from there were painted in exactly 4BO color (beside some batches painted lend-lease US paints). Of course they were repainted time to time in the units and at repair shops... They also received the issue colors fror that work but can also use many others -- for example AMT-4 aircraft paint, some kind of commercial paints and even the "liberated" german ones. Also there can be the different kind of mixtures. But all them were placed over initial 4BO colour and mostly they painted some spots or new parts added during the reparement while the main tank's body stay in it's original colour...

IMHO the main question about "exact russian colours" is the result of looking at the post-war soviet AFVs. Somewhere in the middle of 50-s we started to use new colours with more complex recipe. The main colour (№15 colour or HV-518 -- XB-518 in Russian characters) was a mixture of three ingredients (50% chromium oxide; 31% umber and 19% light yellow krone). This enamel paint comes from gthe plants in the barrels ready for use. Of course during the storage it divide to the layers and must be mixed again before application... And the exact colour depend only on how well the soldier make his job to move the barrel's content by the appropriate tool (usually just the wooden stick). Looks like the same as for us and some long shelve-lived Humbrol jar, right? :-) So you can see the wide variety of colours from yellowish green (almost khaki) to the bluish one… The “old good” 4BO was too simple in it’s components to do such an effect.

Of course, the big deal is the weathering technique. Finally you’ll can receive the color completely different fron one you started – like with the real armor. But my opinion it’s much better to start from the right one and not decide: “Ok, couple of washes and triple drybrushes – and you’ll cant understand which kind of green was first on the model”


Best regards. Dennis

OOooppsss!!!! Sorry for opening up a can of worms fellas. I guess I'll try Tamiya Dark Green.

Lis,

Are there any photos of models or actual vehicles with correct coloring (in your estimation) that you could link to? (I'm not familiar with Revell's paints, and they're not readily available where I am.) Just trying to get an understanding of what you feel the right color is.

Hi Part-timer.
Let's try to look here: http://www.tersys.ru/dish/afvgalr.htm#top -- here are some real things, and here: http://www.tersys.ru/dish/modgalr.htm#top for the model's pictures. As for me this picture is good: http://www.tersys.ru/dish/afv-t-34-ser.htm. Look at the front turret's portion -- it's the colour you'll need

Cheers and happy modelling
Dennis

Thats what I used on the t34/85, tamiya kit

Im using Model Masters acryl # 4807 It looks good.

For the more modern stuff, and for variety, I have used Pollyscale RLM 70, RLM 71, and RLM 82. All make for a nice dark green, some almost black.

I just painted the running gear on an IS-2 today using Tamiya XF-13 (JA Green) lightended with a little white. Matches the MM "Russian Armor Green" pretty close and dries extremely flat. I've had difficulties getting a flat finish from the MM greens....

Here are a few links with infor and some images:

http://www.skalman.nu/worldwar2/su-camo-markings.htm
http://pkka.narod.ru/things.htm
http://scalecombat.narod.ru/realwar/t34tankers_surrending.jpg
http://www.redarmyonline.org/FI_Article_by_RayL_and_HansB.html note the statement about the color of this vehicle being incorrect.

December 1999 FSM apparently has some on on 1934 colors in Berlin. I'll have to dig this issue out tonight.