I am preparing to build a 1/72-scale of the AAVP-7A1 (Dragon kit).
What I am not sure about is whether the driver's, commander's and turret gunner's vision blocks would be coated in the same way as the optical devices. Images of the real vehicle suggest that these are simply glass (with a slight green/blue tint), as compared with the other lenses that appear to have a pink/red/purple tint, depending on the way they reflect the light.
Presumably this would be appropriate for other modern AFVs (including the Abrams, Challenger, Leopard etc). A further question ... when did this coating begin to appear on military vehicles?

I believe the green/blue tint is simply armoured or heavy glass.

The coating - pink/purple I've been told is an ant-laser coating. I know you were looking for a date when this was used universally but I'm not sure - knowing that your looking for "anti-laser" coating may help define your search though.

I agree with Bruce - any "tint" is likely due do the thickness of the glass, but sometimes it still appears clear. I'm sure that some could have a coating similar to that of camera and binocular lenses, though.

As an aside: I found some artist's acrylics that could simulate the coatings on lenses pretty well, but I haven't gotten around to seriously trying them yet.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/golden-fluid-acrylics/
Scroll down to the "interference" colors.
They appear transparent when looking at them head-on, and the color shows when at an angle.

the more direct-vision blocks on the drivers' Commanders' & gun turret appear green-blue, I sprayed my HB 1/35 AAV with Tamiya tints mixed green-blue.

I found it tough enough in 35th where I could paint the blocks off the model & install, so good luck, beta blockers, & a steady hand to you.

Please post your progress, always good to see new wip's


The targeting optics on gun tanks'often' appear red-purple, something to do with anti-laser coatings.

In my experience greenish tint for all plain armored glass, but the purple metallic is for the germanium (or similar) lenses of thermal sights.

As others have said, the greenish tint is due to the basic glass (I think it may be a trace amount of iron in the glass) and the red/pink/purple is for protection from incident laser light on the battlefield. It _blocks_ lasers of certain frequencies so is not actually seen on laser designators themselves, but on vision blocks/periscopes.

The fundamental fact, though, is that these things (except the green) come from coatings on the sight or periscope. The exact colours reflected from these coatings can vary widely and can not be generalised. Different countries use different coatings for different purposes and different coatings for the same purpose, whch reflect diferently. You really need to see the vehicle under several light conditions to know which type of colours are reflected from which device. Some reflect the red/pink/purple. Some reflect a green/blue and some reflect a gold/green. All are different and need to be matched to the right vehicle from the right country.

As to when they were applied to vehicles, it started in the mid 80s as laser rangefinders and designators started to proliferate on the battlefield. New vehicles being built with them and older vehicles being retrofitted as and where funds allowed. There is no set date or even narrow range of dates. You really have to find a photo of the vehicle you want to build, otherwise it's just guessing. How educated the guess is depends on any research/evidence you have that says that vehicle, in that unit, on that day, had such and such coating on such and such aperture. You can't even generalise that all of this type of vehicle were upgraded with that kind of coating as some of these programs took place over several years and could easily have switched coatings in that time so that early upgrades look one way and later ones look different.

Not too helpful, I know, but it really is a very, very broad subject that needs to be interpreted narrowly for each model.

Paul