Hi All

Can anyone recommend a Vellajo light green to use over an Olive drab and black Sherman found in Europe during WWII please?

All the best

what is the light green for?

Is there any evidence that light green was an authorised colour at the time? Can't say I've ever seen mention of its use on US vehicles of the period.

Hi All

Thanks for getting back, in the Concord book, The Sherman at War 7036, there is a reference to a M4A3 of the 19th batt 9th Div in Belgium 1944, with light green and black over Olive Drab, it says it was used when it was available, so this my starting point. Also I have seen a reference to a light green no9 and it is this I would like to find a Vallejo or even a Tamiya colour for.

All the best

That could be FS 34151 which is a supposed match to US Army light green, and is regularly known to airplane guys as interior green. Be forewarned that the color varied wildly between aircraft makers from a very yellow-green to a light grey green.

It could also be loam which is supposed to be FS 34086 (green drab?)

I use mostly Humbrol so light green for me is H-120 and interior green is H-151 which are two very different colors but are in the ballpark for actual paint batches. Go figure.

One supposed match for interior green in Tamiya is XF-71 but XF-76 is also in the ballpark of light greens. Since the USAAF was part of the US Army and color standards being what they are it wouldn't surprise me if the Army Air Force colors found their way into the Army Ground Forces paint supplies.

As an aside I found H-120 (close to XF-76) is very close to the MERDC camouflage color light green as used in the 1970-1990s. So if the US Army used similar colors in World War II that may be the green you're looking for. Or at least in the ballpark.

I do not believe in exact color matching as paint can vary so wildly according to manufacture and application and then with all the tinting and pre and post shading modelers do these days, all bets at true scale color are off. The olive drab I used in the US Army to paint a fuel can was an exact match for Humbrol H-66 but I'm told that it's wrong. The olive drab I used to paint a garbage can was an exact match for Humbrol H-155, but again I'm told that it's wrong. I asked my eye doctor and he said I have color acuity far above average so I assume my eyes are not wrong. So I say guess your best and if it's in the ballpark it's good enough.

For what it's worth Dragon Models does a 1/72 M4A3 60164 and the box art depicts the tank your talking about. Don't know what if any references they used to come up with that camo scheme.

Yes it was. I have a poor scan of a 1956 engineer manual listing camouflage colors (all twelve):

1. White
2. Desert Sand
3. Sand
4. Earth Yellow
5. Earthy Red
6. Field Drab
7. Earth Brown (Dark)
8. Olive Drab
9. Light Green
10. Dark Green
11. Forest Green
12. Black

I believe these were the same ones used in WW II, perhaps renumbered. These would not be aircraft colors but model paints for aircraft might be good matches. Anyhoo, it existed, but I can't say anything about if it was used.

KL

By coincidence my Facebook page had a posting about 9th AD around 1945. Take the colorized pics with a grain of salt but none appear to be in 3 color camo. Can't be certain they are 9th AD either but....

https://www.facebook.com/worldwarincolor/posts/1195717747224682:0

Hi Kurt

Thosey sound awfully like the colours used in the MERDC schemes too. Of course the names may be the same but the colours less so. Given that the colour of OD changed post-war, is it not likely that the same may be true of other colours too?

This isn't my field so happy to be informed by those who study it though.

Sure, they could've and no doubt did change the exact shades but the names seem to have more longevity. I'm pretty sure they kept the WW II spelling of color though.

As I recall I have the wartime FM 5-20H covering camouflage materials but it's buried and I'm trying to finish my entry for AMPS so digging it up will have to wait. It might have chips or color mixtures. I also recall researching paint specifications and how names carried through or evolved when changing specifications.

KL

OK, found my manual . . .

In WW II (1944) the colors, followed by the 1956 colors with the same number:


1. Light Green (White)
2. Dark Green (Desert Sand)
3. Sand
4. Field Drab (Earth Yellow)
5. Earth Brown (Earthy Red)
6. Earth Yellow (Field Drab)
7. Loam (Earth Brown - Dark)
8. Earth Red (Olive Drab)
9. Olive Drab (Light Green)
10. Black (Dark Green)
11. White (Forest Green)
12. Not used (Black)

Or

Ten color names were the same (arguably) in both editions.
Loam was only present in 1944
Forest Green and Desert Sand were only in 1956.

A quote from the manual: "In spite of color standardization, there is considerable variation in hue between lots and between the products of different manufacturers."

KL