I have two early war tanks , a Valentine and a Vickers Light.

Both have artwork showing a middle green with dark green or black disruptive.

Can anyone confirm what these colours should be as I don't trust the colours listed in the box.

My intial research suggests a base of Middle Bronze Green with a disruptive pattern of Dark Bronze Green or Very Dark Brown. The disruptive colours look to be approaching black, but I don't think they would have been black.

The instructions say Khaki and Black but I don't think that is right.

Also, what paints coul I use? Obviously I can always fall back on WEM but I'd prefer acrylic - anything by Tamiya or Revell close?

Cheers,

Nigel

This is where I get my British Cam info from: www.mavfa.net

Unfortunately, it doesn't give Tamiya cross reference but there are some Revell mixes listed there.

Mike.

Hi Nigel,

Firstly when it comes to British armoured vehicle colours there are no simple answers. The paint schemes and approximate date were as follows:

June 1939 to about mid 1941
Khaki Green No.3 and Dark Green No.4.

August 1941 to March 1942
Nobel’s Dark Tarmac No. 4 replaced the Dark Green No.4.

November 1941 to November 1943 (approx)
S.C.C. 2 Service Drab, either by itself or with S.C.C. 1A Very Dark Brown.

All camouflage would have been a bold horizontal or diagonal pattern.

The mixes in Tamiya are:
Khaki Green No.3 - mix: - 3 pts XF62 + 2 pts XF59.
Dark Green G4: - mix 3 x XF61 + 2 pts XF58.
Dark Tarmac No.4 - mix: 1prt XF24 + 1prt XF69.
Very Dark Brown S.S.C. 1A - mix: 7 pts XF10 + 2 pts XF1. This is very close to the standard so a small touch of mid grey.
Service Drab S.C.C. 2 - mix: 5pts XF68 + 4pts XF3 + 1pt XF1. The result is just a fraction strong on the red so go careful and do not overdo the black as even a slight touch too much darkens the result a great deal.

Cheers
David
with many thanks to Mike Stamer and Missing-lynx.com