Does anyone know what a good paint equivalent would be for OD #3, which was used on WWII U.S. Uniforms? Among other things, it was used on winter tanker jackets and bibs, belts, webbing, etc. In most of the photo references I have, it appears to be a bit more of a tan color but many references also state that it is actually green.

Just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of a representative color, preferably from Vallejo, but anything will work since I can use it as a visual reference and mix if needed. I know Life Color makes a set for US WWII equipment that has several OD shades in it...anyone know which is meant to represent OD#3?

Thanks in advance.

I would also be interested in general. I've contemplated the Vallejo set, but haven't pulled the trigger. So far, I've tried to use photos and the boxart of some of the nicer figures, Alpine, S&T, etc.

There is a review of the Life Color set here, but it doesn't mention what any of the colors are supposed to be equivalent to. LifeColor paints are hard to come by at any of my LHS, so I can't see them without ordering them in-store or online.

The tanker figs I did a couple of years ago were painted in an mix of Vallejo Tan Yellow and U.S. Field Drab which matched more than one of my photo references fairly closely. But the more I look at them the more I wonder if I can't do better with something closer to the "actual" color rather than photo references given the vagaries introduced by different lighting, film processing, printing, etc.

Hey Don,

FWIW, I think that Vallejo 70988 Khaki and/or 70821 WWII German Cammo Beige are pretty good matches for OD#3 that has been washed a couple of times although they're both a bit too "tannish" for most brand new OD#3 items, which tend to be a bit yellow-greenish. IMO, both dry out just a little too dark for scale effect, but about right for medium tones and light shadows.

Mix a bit of Vallejo 70978 Dark Yellow to either to make a shade close to "new" OD#3. It would still dry out a bit dark for scale - again maybe about right for mid-tones and light shadows. The 70978 could even work as an extreme end of the OD#3 spectrum.

Having said that, though, I have a lot of original WWII and WWI US uniform and equipment items and no two are exactly the same color, not even the new old-stock items (never issued or used).

Once you do any shadows or highlights on the figures, all bets are off. Throw in some variations so that everything on the figures is not painted the exact same colors, and exact color match becomes a hard to pin down item.

As examples, here's an original Winter Combat Jacket ("Tanker's Jacket") with T-17 microphone, leather neck lanyard and M1936 Pistol Belt:



The jacket is slightly faded but the pistol belt is NOS. Both are in OD#3.

Another comparison, here are new, never issued First Aid and M1911 magazine pouches:



Note the variations in colors even between brand new items. Also, both of these are OD#3 even though the M1911 magazine pouch looks almost like OD#7 in comparison to the first aid pouch. This is just a trick of the light.

Finally, here's a WWI M1910 NCO ("Squad Leader's") pouch:



Again, new and never issued. Note the difference in shades between the webbed hanging strap and the pouch itself. Both parts are OD#3.

I could go on with examples, but picked these out as good comparisons to show how the OD#3 varies quite widely in shade, from a distinctly pea-greenish to warm tannish colors. Very faded items are quite light in color.

There are a lot of theories about why there was such wide variations in color even between new items, but what is very clear is that such variation was a fact.

HTH,

Mike, once again your collection of items proves very helpful! Thanks for sharing those images and for your insight on the color itself. I stopped by the LHS last night and grabbed a few colors that I thought might work before seeing your examples but as you suggested, I had planned on some variety in the uniforms between crew members since that will make it harder to identify what the actual color is.

In your photo of the tanker jacket, much like the others I've seen, the color has a distinctly tan or yellow tone to it. In some cases it even has strong brown tones. So as I said earlier, I used 912 Tan Yellow mixed with 873 US Field Drab for shadows and 819 Iraqi Sand + white for highlights. Into some of the mix I added 914 Green Ochre for a little variation in shade. This is how that mixture turned out :



After more reading however, I have begun to think that the color should have more of a greenish undertone to it so I wanted to try something a little different. I'm going to do some quick highlight and shadow tests with 879 Green Brown, 882 Middlestone, 881 Yellow Green and 978 Dark Yellow to see which has the effect I'm looking for. I already have 988 Khaki in my collection and have tried it but after highlights, it almost looks too grey.

Thanks again for sharing your collection and for your suggestions. I will try to post some photos of my test results here when I get round to it.

Hi again Don,

I'd say that the uniform colors that you have on those guys (beautiful figures, BTW!) is a pretty good match for the average shade after fading.

It could certainly be mixed to a slightly greener shade and still be well within the "left and right limits" for OD#3, especially for newer items.

The one thing that I would suggest, though, is that the knit elastic cuffs and collars could be more distinctly greener - closer to OD shade #7, the later OD color used for the M1943 field uniform ensemble. All of the of the examples that I have handled were a darker OD shade, but, having said that, the brownish shade that you've used is, IMO, still within the expected range.

Those knitted parts and the jacket and bib-coverall linings are usually about the same average color shade as the GI knit sweater or wool blankets - OD#7 tending from greener to browner shades depending on the specific item. The color you used for the knit gloves is a good average, but again could be mixed to give browner to greener hues for variety.

(Although the photo of the Winter Combat Jacket that I posted does appear to be closer to the color you used than what I just described! But, when looked at first hand, the cuffs and collar on that jacket are greener than the photo suggests...)

FWIW, I'd say your color pallet is on-target, but if you wanted some more variety, you could definitely mix any of those mid-tone OD#3 shades to slightly greener hues.

Here's a link to a page with a very wide variety of original uniform items compared side by side to give you some ideas of the color range that's possible:

At the Front::Khaki Talk

I don't usually recommend sites with reproduction uniforms and equipment for reference, but this guy has been doing it right for a long time, and his insights as to what is the "correct" color of "khaki" matches my own experience collecting. (His tone of voice is a bit "abrasive," but take that with a grain of salt and appreciate the humor in it... Re-enactors can be just as color "snobby" as a lot of model builders! )

Again, beautiful figures.

Thanks Mike!

And I agree.... Don's figures are great.