I was curious about the colors of olive drab that were used on the AFV's of WWII. It seems that in photgraphs that the variations were great. But was there a really predominate one that was seen more often than others? Also doesn't the paint weather differently from lot to lot?

Working on some WWII stuff adn was wondering about paint. Any input would be great.

Deacon
:-)

I just eyeball it. There were so many shades and variations fresh from the factory that after weathering in the field, almost any shade will do.

Like Sabot said, OD varied greatly from lot to lot, manufacture to manufacture. With all the different model paint companies producing their own version of OD, you really can't go wrong.
The things that may effect the weathering are, well, like the weather the AFV is in. Desert would tend to "bleach" the paint, though not too much, unless it's been there a very long time. Sand and dust would be present on it.
Wooded areas would not really effect the paint other than scratch the paint along the hull sides and such where the vehicle brushed against trees and things. Mud and dirt would acummulate on the vehicle.
With all the shade possibilities of OD, you can't really go wrong.

Like Sabot and Ken say, OD runs the spectrum.

Think of blue jeans -- what color are they? Depends ...

Yes I definitely agree with Sabot.
Although, one of the most common of the OD''s was Shade #15 Olive Drab
....but I, like Rob, will chose my paint color by eye...going by a color
photo from W.W.II if possible.
You can reast assured that "close enough..... is good enough " for model's.

- ralph

Thanks guys!

I jumped in and chose Polly S Olive Drab as my base for my Jeep. This set up for a few days and then I gave it a wash of black oil. This too sat up for a few days. I then proceeded with the same olve drab to dry brush adding a slight bit of white each time to lighten the olive drab. These seems to be working! On my M-20 I think that I might add a few drops of dark green to the olive to change it slightly and weather accordingly. I just don't want all of my US WWII vehicles to look the same. Weathering wise that is.

Any other tips that might be of help are very welcomed!

Thanks Again
Deacon

Ahh, you've got the idea already! It's best to vary the OD's on your vehicles just ever so slightly...just like the real ones. Unless of course you're representing several of the same

Yes, as has already been said above by better expert's than I, even if you were depicting a coloumn of tanks or AFV's, especially WWII vintage, each and every one of them would be a slightly different shade. Unless of course you were building a diorama of a loaded freight train station at the Tank factory!

Tread.

Just curious. What's Green Drab (FS 34086)? Is there a specific use for this colour? I bought it for some reason, but I'm not sure what to use it on. I thought for my Canadian M4A4 I could basecoat with this colour, and then lightly overspray with Olive Drab. It's a Model Master enamel, by the way.

Nic

This has to be one of the most prolific subjects for armor and military modelers. The right color or shade has to be, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. We look at photos or we remember colors. We see old vehicles at musems or in front of Veterans posts. One might see one in a parade. Some of the people on here may actually own one. But to get it on our models always seems to be the impossible task. Why? Well if you stop and think about it for a moment, we are trying to recreate in scale what we see and percieve in real life. In our most common scale 1:35 this can be very frustrating. professional modlers realize that this perspective dictates just how small one can go and still represent it believeably. We, in our scale need to use tricks to do the same. Paint a model the FS color called for ie. OD or OG or DG. Step back and what do you see? Well, what you see is what your eyes see. GREEN. Now get up real close, say a scale 5 to 10 feet and level with the model like you were looking at the real thing. Now what do you see? Looks a little more like what you were thinking? This is probably because your eyes are not seeing just the color but also whats under it. Shaded areas are now a slightly different color as are the areas where light reflects off the model. Your light source makes a big difference in the color your seeing. These and many, many other factors affect what you see and what you think you should see. Focus. Ih real life you don't see all of a vehicle at one time like you do when viewing a model. You FOCUS on parts of it a a time. In modeling you need to use your painting skills to help a viewer to focus on areas of your model not just the whole. Weathering not only helps represent a real life condition, it also helps breakup the image the eye is receiving and assists the viewer in gaining a perspective view of the model. Distance is a factor that affects how we see colors. Refraction of light alters hues. For example. A movie with WW2 C47's. On the ground next to one they look green. In the air hundreds or thousands of feet away they look brown. Take an object lying on the table. It looks flat. Hold it up close or at an angle and it looks shiney.
Factors we need to take into account when we or others ask "why dosen't this color look right". Dosen't look right to who?