Hello, I am looking color used on U.S. armored vehicles front World War II. I actually use tamiya paint. thank you. steph

I don't believe Tamiya has an accurrate representation of OD from WWII. The closest I have found is MM OD enamel. That is OD not ANA OD. However, tanks were constantly repainted with the closest variation the crew or maintenance could find. By this logic, you should be able to mix green with some buff or dark yellow and come close.

thank you MATT , but what I seek is painting before the Second World War period 1938/1939. the photos looks like the color of dark gray or black?

It is my understanding that there is no such thing as a perfect World War 2 Olive Drab as there were a large number of variations in colour, and while there may be a set colouration it varied greatly. An option for you to consider is LifeColor U.S. Olive Drab Set which contains;

UA 219 Lusterless Olive Drab FS 33070 (Body colour up to 1943)
UA 220 Lusterless Olive Drab 319 (Body colour 1944-1945)
UA 221 Khaki Olive Drab FS 34088 approx. (Body colour 1944-1945)
UA 222 Olive Drab FS 34088 (Body colour up to 1950)
UA 223 Olive Drab Faded Type 1
UA 224 Olive Drab Faded Type 2

Actually Tamiya XF-62 is your best bet (lightninged up a bit with some Dark Yellow)

For more info, see this:

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article/olive-drab/4536/

Hi

It has always been my understanding that Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab is one of the best out of the pot Olive Drabs there is. They now make two olive drabs with the second one labels olive drab jgsdf which is a touch darker than XF-62 so that might also be worth a look

Other good olive drabs are Vallejo Model Air Olive Drab but not their Model Color Olive Drab as that is too brown, Humbrol 155 not the old 66 which was too brown, White Ensign OD is also good but is a touch light, Model Master OD is also good, but get the one from the standard paint range code 1711 and not the ones in the US armour section as they are very wrong, also don't bother with the Xtracolor ones either as they are nothing like it.

Paul

thank you scott and darren. scott ,the link is really very interesting.
steph

Steve Zaloga told me face to face that there was only one Olive Drab during WWII and Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab is the best match on the market. It is close to exact. Since Steve has access to the National Archives and an original color chip set, I take his word on things like this.
If you want to depict pre-war vehicles, just shoot a semi - gloss coat on the XF-62 Olive Drab. Vehicles were the same color OD, but were kept washed and sometimes waxed while in garrison to present a spit and polish appearance.

hello, thank you Matthew and Paul. I will paint with satin XF62. steph

Hi

You could always do what I do, just to avoid the monotony of everything being the same I use the following Olive Drab mixes but cycle through them model after model so that no two models in my display cabinets are the same when sat next to each other, just like the real thing that all faded at different rates depending on the batch they where painted with, what they where exposed to during transport and delivery, what they where exposed to in their short life before they met a German 88.

I use the following Olive Drabs

Acrylic

Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab
Tamiya XF-74 Olive Drab JGSDF but only used as a fading coat
Vallejo Model Air Olive Drab

Enamel

Humbrol Olive Drab115
Model Master Olive Drab 1711
White Ensign Olive Drab ARUS 03

Any of the above will give a good starting point and after filters weathering and fading will all look correct.

Paul

Here is Steve Zaloga's article on OD that I have found helpful

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article/olive-drab/4536/



oops,sorry I see I repeated this.

On a side note, Tamiya XF 74, JGSDF OD, is nearly an exact match for 50's-60's era "Marine Green". A Korean war Pershing in this color looks spot on.

G

I have to agree with the above posters on Tamiya Olive Drab XF-62. I am led to believe it is indeed the best match for US pre-war and wartime OD.

Garth

I just built my very first U.S. WWII tank, a Tasca Sherman. I had read the Steve Zaloga article on Olive Drab, and decided to go that route. I painted my Sherman with a base coat of Tamiya XF-62 straight out of the bottle. Contrary to some of the guidance provided, I used a mix of about 80% XF-62 lightened with about 20% of XF-60 Dark Yellow as a 'faded' Olive Drab, and used that mixture, thinned, to hit all the edges, corners, and where I thought the tank would mostly be exposed to fading. It looked GREAT!

I did something a little different in addition, however. I had recently purchased the AK NATO Camo Tank weathering set. I decided to try to use the filter from the set (which also includes a black wash, and rain marks) as an 'all over' blend for the base and faded coats of OD. This AK filter, in contrast to the SIN German Tri-Color Filter, which is a very thin tannish brown, is pretty heavily 'brown', especially when wet. It was kind of surprise to me when I applied the filter, and I thought I had made a terrible error in using it. However, when the filter dried overnight, not only did the highlighted OD coat show through, the OD tank now had a subtle brownish cast, which, as I read Zaloga's article, may be even more accurate than the straight XF-62. As Steve wrote, OD on U.S. armor was actually not green, but more a dirty brownish green, and with this filter, that's EXACTLY what I got. I don't know how accurate my Sherman's color may be, but I must say that it matches, precisely, the verbal description of WWII OD as documented by Steve Zaloga.

Tamiya XF62 Olive drab

Ok this is a close representation of Olive drab/colour chip but I have purchased the Tamiya brand over the last 20 years or so and each I time I open the bottle there a variations in the colour.
The link that was posted in this thread is a rather old article with new players in the market like the life colour range which did not get mentioned nor has there been any further documented articles to support the life colour range perform just as well.

I have no affiliation with this company although I have used just about all the life colour olive drab range and I believe they are more close to the mark of Olive Drab.
Other colours I like to use are
MM olive drab 34087, MM do 2 olive drabs and I cannot recall the other colour number.
And bring back the good old Humbrol 155 olive drab .

Once a weathering or filter shade are applied the colour shade on the model is disguised.

Curt
The AK filter setup brings another dimension to plastic modelling

.

Michael, so I have learned! I never really had an appreciation, or understanding, of the use, or need, for filters, until having used them. But they are a pretty cool tool!

I agree with Tamiya's od. I must have picked up a different mix, as mine is much closer to dark green. Now, I get to find a site that sells Tamiya paints. My LHS just went down a couple of more points.

I'll have to try these filters, they give a beautiful finish

Trying all different brands of paint is part of modelling and shows the ease of using different paints to enhance visual appearance .

In different theatres of combat dust,repaints etc how is anyone going to say that's not the right shade of olive drab on a plastic model

A small note in this thread to make, no matter what olive drab you use on your model and the use of AK earth affects filter will transform your shade of olive drab dramatically .