Hi guys,

I have just started painting my Meng's T-72B1 from the First Chechen War. I used the paint suggested in the paint chart (Russian Green 1 MC-217) and I find this color too light for what I usually see in Soviet/Russian vehicles.

I have a few sets from AK Interactive and Ammo Mig with Russian colors, but I'd like to know if:

1. The color Meng has on their paint chart is indeed correct and this tanks were painted in light green, regardless of what I thought.

2. For a vehicle in 1996, I guess any medium to dark green will do, like ZIS 508 Green Khaki or XB 518 Zashchitniy Zeleno (I'm copying this from this Ammo Mig paint set).

Ricardo:

I'm doing up a Panda Hobby Kurganets-25 IFV as we speak... The "Russian color" question came up for me, as well.

My approach has been to do a lot of Google photo-searching to get some reasonable impression of the color(s) being used. Noting, of course, that not all color pics are equally good or "true", I look for gaining some impression of what the general color appears to be or to have been "back when".

I've concluded that many of the so-called "Russian greens" offered by model paint companies appear to be somewhat lighter than what many photos suggest - specially for 1970's - current vehicles. Specially for more-current vehicles (Kurganets is just now being issued to Russian units... ).

So what am I using for mine? I found some really good-looking middle-darkish Vallejo Model Color green called "Camo. Olive Green, number 70.984". It looks pretty realistic when compared to many good pics of the real thing.

I plan on using this same color as a base-coat green for a Trumpeter T-64 1984-mod, and probably also on a Takom T-55-AMV I have wip on the bench. It could be a monochrome scheme or a camo scheme on each - the base green being the same. And I have a Trumpy 72-B1 that could also see this stuff...

Take a look at the Vallejo Model Color Camo. Olive Green -984 - it looks good, albeit a bit of a task to spray well up in very dry Arizona, where I'm at!

Bob

Thanks for the tip, Bob.

I'll try that paint for sure.

Ricardo;

My dyslexia set in... My sincere apologies!

Look for Vallejo Model Color Camo. Olive Green (also sometimes labelled "Russian Green") 70.894.

I have no idea what one might get using that 70.984 number I posted last!

Cheers! Bob

PS: Of course, one can always resort to a bit of paint-mixing to darken an available color in the paint brand / line you have or prefer to use. As each one of us sees colors maybe a bit differently, and there is no single "correct color and shade" actually available from a paint bottle (the real paints vary by lot and by manufacturer and by date-of-mfgr, are affected by application and by exposure and aging and dirt, etc., and seen in photos taken with different films by different folks under many different lighting conditions), there is some discretion and "license" allowed. Who, exactly, will raise his or her voice and say that YOU got the color all wrong? With what credentials?

So choose something which satisfies your impression as to what it should look like.

I tested a few Ammo Mig paints I have at home and think I'll go with XB518 (AMig - 083).

Check this PDF.

It's close to the Vallejo color you mentioned, I guess.

Mig 083 looks reasonable from the pics, and it does appear pretty close to the Vallejo 70.894 color, from what I see. Again, it wants to be the color YOU like - but it's always nicer to find that you already have the desired color then to find you don't and need to go get it!

Looking forward to seeing a pic of this thing all painted up!

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'll post a few pics if I get the chance to paint the model this weekend.

I'm also doing a BMP-1 which, I hope, will be placed together with the T-72 in First Chechen War diorama.

Check this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVS8Fxt807E

The T-80s in this video all look like they are the same color, which to me eye closely resembles Ammo Mig 083 XB-518 ZASHCHITNIY ZELENO. What you don't see is "green, any green". No doubt this was possible in some units like in Afghanistan with the 40th army which was cobbled together. Also after much weathering in the field. But in up to strength units like in GSFG I would guess that the color was more uniform. The colors were spec'd by the army and applied to factory finished vehicles.

Eric;

Hi! Perhaps you are applying one level of "thought" to another level of question?

In truth, it really is, to some extent "any green". Same as for German tanks issued and painted between Mar 1943 and Oct or Nov 1944... The 1943 regs specified a color we German builders know as "Dunkelgelb" for the base coat. Problem is, there were many paint manufacturers, and while there was a color standard provided, it is clear that there was variation among vehicles and over time. (And we modelers are certes not all in agreement as to which available paint color(s) is the "best representation" for this seminal armor color.) Same is true when one gets into discussion of WWII Russian "BO-4 protective green" - the "standard color" for Soviet WWII armor. So we modelers have to do our best and choose a paint which we believe to be a "good representation" of the color, knowing that we are actually choosing a color we think "looks right" - not a color which actually IS GUARANTEED to BE right.

Yes, probably vehicles within a unit will likely be the same color - maybe the same batch of paint applied within a fairly narrow time. So, when you are COMPARING tank A to tank B in that unit, whatever green they are painted will likely be "about right". But this comparison says nothing about what the "true" color is across the larger set of vehicles.

That, and our individual perception of color varies and differs among viewers.

So, about the best one can do is to obtain a color standard (chip) as a reference (noting that the source of the chip and its provenance bear on how confident one should be as to how "correct" that reference standard is...). Barring that, one can try to match one's available paints to what one sees in pictures - with all the ills and problems that entails.

Model paint makers make and sell many "greens" which are labelled as being some "Russian green" or another. Which one is the "correct color" is not, alas, resolved by seeing that all tanks in a given unit appear to wear the same green...!

Cheers! Bob

First off, Hi Bob Woodman! I'm here because of your suggestion over in my Meng T-72B1 thread.

Eric, the T-80s in that video you linked to all look very "yellowish" to me. They seem to be painted in something close to NATO Green which is a very yellow-based green.

I find that interesting as a lot of photos of modern Russian armor suggest a very different sort of green--a darker, blue based green with some grey in it.