I have both the Tamiya and Gunzye paints for Olive Drab. The tamiya version is dark green whereas the Gunzye version is more yellowish green ( kinda like dark tan ). Is it ok for me to use the Gunzye one instead of Tamiya version?
I checked reference photos and all that I found were dark green versions so where did the Gunzye version come from?

i had similiar problem painting my M113 vietnam. The MM acryl OD was very light instead of all other OD;s but finally after painting and getting dry it is the same , or maybe a lil faded but with the darkwashes and the flat coat goes the same. i prefer to use a lighter paint and get it right than to get a darker and after adding washes and varnish gettin more dark

Hi hobbes, the U.S. AFV's were painted in Olive Drab #9 and the British used Olive Drab Shade #15. I'm going out on a limb here, though I don't use Tamiya paint, it sounds from your description that it's probably similar to the U.S. lusterless color .... and the Gunze is more similar to the Brit's OD-Shade #15.

However, like Major G. was saying, no matter which color you use, once you start weathering your armor with washes & drybrushing, it's going to look very different from it's base coat. It's you that decide & control if you want your weathering to render a light / faded AFV or a dark / dirty AFV. You can use the darker Tamiya color, but still have your AFV appear in a faded finish "and vice-versa " ..... it all depends on your weathering method

- ralph

Thanks for the replies. Yes indeed I'm looking for a faded looked as if it has been exposed to the sun. Any suggestions on creating the faded look after applying my base coat?

fade the base coat and then highlight panel edges etc with darkened OD.

see my Federal tracter unit in my gallery for an example.

I use Model master enamel OD for most of my WW2 to "nam vehicles. After that I use the Green Drab which is closer to the darker OD i experienced while I was on Active duty, that is right before we started painting everything with the Cammo schemes in 77

Maybe I can help you out a little bit. We used to have to paint our tanks it seemed like every time we came back from a gunnery and field exercise. I don't think that any two shades of paint were the same. It would vary depending on the kind of thinner you used to thin the paint too. Take it from someone who has painted the real thing.

Steve Zaloga had an article in Military Modelling Magazine some while ago (vol 32 no. 3 / 22march 2002) where he discussed olive drab paints.

1)model paint.... 2)TT-C-595/FS-595 match... 3)Suitability for models

acrylics
1)Polyscale 505370...2)lighter than wartime colour...3)OK for wartime OD
1) Modelair Vallejo 043....2) Lighter, greyer Than wartime colur...3)OK for wartime OD
1)Tamiya XF-62....2)best match for wartime colour....3)Should be lightened a bit with ochre
1)Gunze sangyo H52....2)Matches 1968 FS-595A..3)OK for wartime OD, a bit vivid
1)Model master 4728.. 2)Very light, too grey-green....3)too light
1)Model master 613...2)lighter, greyer than wartime OD..3) too grey

enamels
1)model master 1711...2)close to 1968 FS-595A....3)OK for wartime OD, a bit vivid
1)model master 2050(613)....2)lighter, greyer than wartime OD..3) too grey
1)Humbrol 155....2)lighter, greener than wartime OD..3) too green

Great article on the subject. He does state that this is his opinion and not some scientific results. I believe this explains the difference in the two shades of OD (Tamiya and Gunzye )... one was original FS and the other is 1968 FS. ?????

But what has been said above, I belive is right. Weathering does allow alot of flexibilty on the subject.
I have painted Italeri´s sherman and M32 recently from tamiya XF-62 and they are very dark. Mr. Zaloga must add quite a bit of ochre to get the green he achieves in his models. Below is both ..base straight from the bottle and slighly faded in the centres with base and Tamiya dark yellow.

The M32 has been dry brushed but no washes

The sherman is painted and has johnssons clear sprayed before and after decaling. First time I have used the johnssons as an experiment. These 2 pictures were taken under the same conditions ... just a different background and the drybrushing of the M32 has flattened the colour. When sitting side by side in reality .. they look more similar ... dark

Plasticbattle

Is the M32 straight OTB or have you added any PE bits?

The shade of the M32 looks Great the actual model looks cool how long have you spent on it?

What tracks are you going to put on it?

I have always varied my Olive Drab on my models, no two look the same shade.

After all the sun bleaching, mud, rain and general weathering on the real vehicles, I don't think any two vehicles were the same shade. I think in the book D-Day to Berlin an Arms and Armour press book , it describes quite well the effects of the real world weather on WWII tanks and stuff. So along with different shades of dry-brushing and washes I try to emulate this as best I can.

1)Straight from the box....... I have only recently attempted PE. I started this over a year ago... so I kept it a straight OOB.
2)Built it in one night .. long night (10 hours). Sprayed it the next day ...olive drab from the bottle, and faded slightly with Tamiya olive drab and dark yellow (1 hour). About 1 week later along with about 4 other models .. sprayed johnssons klear on decal area. next evening decals. next evening sprayed klear over (20mins). This was all done over 1 year ago. Then last week... dry brushed the whole model with a lighter shade...Humbrols. Next evening detail painted and dry brushed a mix of humbrol aluminium and steel over parts in different quantities so they stood out from the rest of the vehicle(3 hours). Tracks were sprayed with a black hobby primer, dry brushed humbrol dark grey. Teeth dry brushed al and steel mixture and then added. (30 mins). I will wash the "parts" that hold the track pads together with rusty colour during final finishing. So total so far is about 15 hours. I guess there will be about 20 hours in total as i am painting some personal gear and stowage to add to it and then weather it. I also have a Corpus figure almost ready to add. Its a US mechanic.
I usually have a quite afew projects going at the same time, so all stages were made at the same time as other kits.
3)Just an OOB build, so the kit tracks. Italeri tracks are a bit stiff, so I will have to glue them in a few places so they sit right. They are the early .. flat rubber types.

I loved building this vehicle. I know there is a lot of inaccuracies, but I think it will look the part when finished. Hopefully I can it finished in the next week or so, and I´ll post more pictures then!

For WWII OliveDrab, I mix the following Tamiya colors: 45%Olive Drab, 45% Khaki Drab, 10% Flat white. I then overspray with heavily thinned Khaki.

Mike