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AFV Painting & Weathering
Answers to questions about the right paint scheme or tips for the right effect.
Hosted by Darren Baker, Matthew Toms
Olive Drab Cloth
long_tom
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Illinois, United States
Joined: March 18, 2006
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 07:35 PM UTC
I read about how there was supposed to be two shades of official olive drab color for WW2 clothing, early one light and later one dark. With that in mind, how much variation can anybody get away with? I have olive green as well as olive drab paints to use, and I have Korean War as well as WW2 American soldiers in mind.
Scarred
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 11, 2016
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 08:09 PM UTC
Remember that clothing fades with age, wear and tear. Even our BDU'S would show fading, my uniforms ran from dark green of new issue to a faded lighter green depending on their age. The black could go from black to a dark grey. The brown from dark chocolate to chocolate milk. It also depended on wether they were heavy cotton or summer weight 'ripstop', the ripstop BDU'S faded faster and more dramatically than the heavy ones. Look at helmet covers, especially during Vietnam and you can see the range of O.D. fading. So Dark will become Light and Light will get lighter over time. With that much variation you really can't go wrong.
TotemWolf
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Oklahoma, United States
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 09:02 PM UTC
Yes there were two colors used in the ETO before and after the spring of '43.
OD #3 was first used, but then changed to what most people think of for the US uniform, the OD #7 color.

Prewar the Army used OD #9.



OD #9 OD #3 OD#7
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 15, 2009
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 09:09 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I read about how there was supposed to be two shades of official olive drab color for WW2 clothing, early one light and later one dark. With that in mind, how much variation can anybody get away with? I have olive green as well as olive drab paints to use, and I have Korean War as well as WW2 American soldiers in mind.


Of course Khaki Drab was one color of US wool uniforms from WWI through early WWII, and the mobilization of many manufacturers produced various shades of Khaki and OD. The US Army changed its color reqypuirements to an olive green color in 1951. But there were color variations as well as variations of material that can cause the colors to appear differently under different conditions--an example would be the early herringbone and later sateen pattern cloth, the former being worn early in WWII, the later being worn in the Korean War. So the answer to your question is there can be quite a bit of variation.

As Patrick mentioned, even the BDU patterns could have a lot of variation depending on age and treatment. For example, when I was assigned to the 2ID in Korea in 1987, we had our Ajima (cleaning lady) wash our uniforms. I was astounded one day early in my tour to see a group of Ajimas beating uniforms on the rocks along the stream that bisected our base. They would prefer to do this in good weather during the summer, even though we had a perfectly serviceable washer and dryer in our quarters. For them it was a traditional way of washing. By the end of my tour, my uniforms were almost a gray tinged color from this washing method, as were the rest of my comrades in the 2ID. When I got to the 25th Division in Hawaii, I had to buy all new uniforms since my "grayed out" 2ID uniforms didn't blend well into the "greener" tropical uniform environment.
VR, Russ
TotemWolf
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Oklahoma, United States
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 10:28 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I read about how there was supposed to be two shades of official olive drab color for WW2 clothing, early one light and later one dark. With that in mind, how much variation can anybody get away with? I have olive green as well as olive drab paints to use, and I have Korean War as well as WW2 American soldiers in mind.


Of course Khaki Drab was one color of US wool uniforms from WWI through early WWII, and the mobilization of many manufacturers produced various shades of Khaki and OD. The US Army changed its color reqypuirements to an olive green color in 1951. But there were color variations as well as variations of material that can cause the colors to appear differently under different conditions--an example would be the early herringbone and later sateen pattern cloth, the former being worn early in WWII, the later being worn in the Korean War. So the answer to your question is there can be quite a bit of variation.

As Patrick mentioned, even the BDU patterns could have a lot of variation depending on age and treatment. For example, when I was assigned to the 2ID in Korea in 1987, we had our Ajima (cleaning lady) wash our uniforms. I was astounded one day early in my tour to see a group of Ajimas beating uniforms on the rocks along the stream that bisected our base. They would prefer to do this in good weather during the summer, even though we had a perfectly serviceable washer and dryer in our quarters. For them it was a traditional way of washing. By the end of my tour, my uniforms were almost a gray tinged color from this washing method, as were the rest of my comrades in the 2ID. When I got to the 25th Division in Hawaii, I had to buy all new uniforms since my "grayed out" 2ID uniforms didn't blend well into the "greener" tropical uniform environment.
VR, Russ

Hey Russ,
I was 2ID July '87 to 'July '88.
Camp Howze 2/503
alewar
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Canelones, Uruguay
Joined: December 27, 2006
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 10:52 PM UTC
Hi, this site its in spanish, easily to translate I guess with the browser, also very self explained photos of AFV clothes.

http://www.lasegundaguerra.com/viewtopic.php?t=11612


HTH (a bit)

Álvaro

Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 15, 2009
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Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 11:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I read about how there was supposed to be two shades of official olive drab color for WW2 clothing, early one light and later one dark. With that in mind, how much variation can anybody get away with? I have olive green as well as olive drab paints to use, and I have Korean War as well as WW2 American soldiers in mind.


Of course Khaki Drab was one color of US wool uniforms from WWI through early WWII, and the mobilization of many manufacturers produced various shades of Khaki and OD. The US Army changed its color reqypuirements to an olive green color in 1951. But there were color variations as well as variations of material that can cause the colors to appear differently under different conditions--an example would be the early herringbone and later sateen pattern cloth, the former being worn early in WWII, the later being worn in the Korean War. So the answer to your question is there can be quite a bit of variation.

As Patrick mentioned, even the BDU patterns could have a lot of variation depending on age and treatment. For example, when I was assigned to the 2ID in Korea in 1987, we had our Ajima (cleaning lady) wash our uniforms. I was astounded one day early in my tour to see a group of Ajimas beating uniforms on the rocks along the stream that bisected our base. They would prefer to do this in good weather during the summer, even though we had a perfectly serviceable washer and dryer in our quarters. For them it was a traditional way of washing. By the end of my tour, my uniforms were almost a gray tinged color from this washing method, as were the rest of my comrades in the 2ID. When I got to the 25th Division in Hawaii, I had to buy all new uniforms since my "grayed out" 2ID uniforms didn't blend well into the "greener" tropical uniform environment.
VR, Russ

Hey Russ,
I was 2ID July '87 to 'July '88.
Camp Howze 2/503


Robert,
I was at Casey in Tongduchon March 87-March 88, so we were there at the same time. I was back in 2000-2002 for a long tour down south, went to visit Tongduchon, it's just a shadow of itself now. If anyone wonders why the South is so concerned about N. Korea, it's because Seoul has grown northward to encompass Uijonbo, right up to Tongduchon, which is a almost a suburb now. It's solid city out to Inchon too. I don't think Camp Howze exists anymore, and most of Casey was almost gone when I was there, I did find my old hooch and pointed out the stream where the Ajimas did our laundry to my wife, who traveled up with me. She was interested in the story of why my BDUs were so gray and worn out after a year in Korea. While we were there we had an Adishi-- (houseboy who tended the house) who laundered my uniforms, but he used our washer and dryer! He was upset when I started taking my BDUs to the cleaners. Most of us who where there in the 80s and 90s wouldn't recognize the place now-- I didn't when I was there in 2002.
VR, Russ
GeraldOwens
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Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
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Posted: Friday, September 22, 2017 - 01:25 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I read about how there was supposed to be two shades of official olive drab color for WW2 clothing, early one light and later one dark. With that in mind, how much variation can anybody get away with? I have olive green as well as olive drab paints to use, and I have Korean War as well as WW2 American soldiers in mind.

It is drastically more complicated than that. The term olive drab was applied to many different colors, ranging from a tan to a warm brown to a forest green color. You need to know what uniform item you are looking for, then do a Google image search for it. Nearly everything can be found online.
Individual batches of cloth always varied from standard, and each item would fade uniquely, according to exposure to sun, and how and how often it was laundered.
The 1941 uniform was a brown wool pant, shirt and jacket, though the jacket, with its brass buttons, was treated as a Class A item, and worn on leave rather than in the field. The 1941 Parsons Jacket was worn in the field instead, and its color ranged from light tan to light green.
There was also a green herringbone twill hot weather fatigue uniform.
In late 1944, the Model 43 uniform began to appear at the front. It was a dark green color jacket and pant.
The Model 44 Jacket was a short, waist-length jacket, also known as the Ike Jacket, because Eisenhower was an early adopter. It was seen on rear echelon troops initially, and was more generally available after VE Day.
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