Hi all,

For a small vignette-style project I want to paint these 72nd scale Huey-pilots from the Vietnam War era and just have no clue whatsoever on what colors to use for the uniforms and gear. I have never ever painted Vietnam Era guys before, let alone pilots or crew. Could you point me into the right direction, maybe even with some actual color advise (brand, color names...)?

Your help is very much appreciated!

Marian,

I used Vallejo Model colour on my Huey crew, the colours I used are outlined here;

http://andysgreyarmy.blogspot.com/2015/03/huey-crew-1-pilot.html

Finished Helicopter is here;

http://andysgreyarmy.blogspot.com/2016/10/well-it-looks-like-i-have-neglected.html

Hope it helps
Andy

OG 107's were notorious for the rate at which they would fade. While they started out as a medium olive color, they faded to a light, sometimes almost grayish green color. Paint it what looks good to you. The color police will always be on patrol no matter what you do.
Light Olive is a nice color but at the moment I can't remember which brand it is. I'll look when I get home. Probably Model Master.

Being an army pilot who flew in Vietnam, a lot depends on the date. Late 1968 we flew in green jungle fatigues and black boots with brown leather gloves. Early 1969 went to two piece nomex, jungle boots and nomex gloves.
Fatigues were green almost NATO green. Nomex was more olive drab leaning towards brown bullet board was about the same as the nomex but more faded. Helmets were olive drab.
Hope this helps.
Don’t worry about the paint police. Haha
John

Thank you all for your advise and the heads up concerning the color police

Well, I'm not crazily bound to a specific date, it's just a fun little project and at the last minute I decided to add these guys to the already finished Huey. The only thing defining a certain time frame would be the fact that they are supposed to crew an UH-1H.

As I said: Your help is very much appreciated and I will soon give it a go and show you here what I'll come up with.

Vallejo French Tank Crew mixed with Yellow Olive has given me some nice Vietnam jungle colours. No set ratio, just mixed until it looks right, allows for tonal variation between different uniforms.

Hi John. A Fort Wolters alumnus, eh? If so, many props to you, sir. A few of your instructors are still alive and kicking in the DFW area.
They've got some stories to tell...

You mention those green jungle fatigues. I've worn everything from them to ERDL (remember those?) right up to what we're wearing now, and I gotta tell ya, those were my favorite ever. Especially great for winter warfare because they were roomy enough to provide insulation, and dried out well after a mishap that usually involved icy cold water.

In a serendipitous moment, I happened upon a photo this morning I didn't even remember being taken. I had hair then, so yeah, it's an oldie. Shows why the color police can't be trusted...

Thanks again for your replies and pictures! They helped me a lot to go with some "artistic freedom" due to obvious color ranges...

Well, here is what I came up with. It might sound like complaining but the paints didn't really work for me, or it was my wet palette or me being just not able to handle them, but the colors dried too quickly on my wet palette and were not to my satisfaction. I usually use LifeColor but had the Olive Drab only from AMMO, so I gave them a shot. As I said: Not entirely satisfied with the paints. Also this was my first attempt on painting 72nd scale figures and my foruth or fith attempt to paint a figure ever... so it is all coming down to the fact that I will obviously need some more practice to make them actually stand out. That being said: For my standards at the moment I am satisfied with the result alltogether.

Constructive criticism is very welcome so please do not hesitate to give me hell