Hi Everyone.

I am new to this site but I wanted to start out by saying you folks do some fantastic work on your armour subjects! I can only hope that, in time I can do half as well on my kits as you all do on yours.

With that said, my first kit is the 1/35 Dragon Sherman Firefly Ic. I plan on doing it up with the kit markings for a tank from the Governor General’s Foot Guard, 21st Armoured Regiment, 4th Canadian Armoured Division. The kits plans call for the tank to be painted overall Gunze H80 (Khaki Green). However, when I opened the bottle it looked really dark compared to what I see on the Firefly’s in the “Gallery” section. If you are familiar with Gunze acrylics, is this colour correct as a base coat, and then lighten it with some white and then airbrush on some misty coats to tone it down? Or is it way off? What colour do you all use on your Firefly’s and who makes it?

I appreciate your time and your assistance.

Kind Regards,
Don

Hi Don:
I would lighten the color with German dark yellow rather than white. It will allow the green to remain "warm" versus the chalky look if you added white.

What I might do is basecoat it with the unlightened stuff and go over again in misting coats with 2/3 H80 and 1/3 dark yellow, thinned heavily in uneven cloudy patterns. Finally you could do some 1/3 H80 to 2/3 dk yellow in some vertical streaks down the sides to simulate rain streakings -- very thinned.

May I ask a question? Did you recently purchase the Firefly IC? It has been out of production and DML has said they were to re-release it. Has it come out yet?

Hi Don

Welcome to the Big A.

I know very little about WW2 armour.But don't go by pictures for colours.There are to many things that can alter the "real" colour.

Make sure you past pics of your work.

Jim

Hi Don and welcome to Armorama

British armour was painted Khaki Drab (Humbrol 159) until late in 1944 at which point they moved to a Bronze Green colour (Humbrol 75).

This probably accounts for the different colours on Fireflys in the gallery.

Cheers
Darren

Hi.

Darren's suggestion of Humbrol 159 is OK, but it is actually too bright and green for SCC15 (the official ddesignation for the colour used on British armour at that point in the war).
159 will weather up nicely and looks good, but for a better match try this from the
MAFVA website

S.C.C. 15 Olive Drab.

Mix: 150 + 159 + 33 in ratio 5:5:2. A reasonable match is 159 + 33 in ratio 8:1. Dyed tilts can be represented by Humbrol 150.

In use: Introduced April 1944 in A.C.I. 533 as new basic colour with or without S.C.C.1A or 14 disruptive paintwork as M.T.P.46 for operations in N.W.Europe and Italy.

Description: Fresh olive drab, a very dark drab inclined towards green. Unlike the US colour which it resembles when new, this fades green. Noticeable contrast with black and less so with S.C.C. 1A. Definitely NOT blue-green or like any Humbrol colours.

Hope that helps,
MC

Thanks for the post and the answers I missed this post when I posted a similar question yesterday but all the answers I need are right here.

So question.. would Tamiya Khaki Drab be a good starting point? I paint using Testors or Tamiya Acrylics. I can't get Humbrols here.

Hi there,

Actually the kit was given to me by a relative who had it for a few years in their stash, never started it and lost interest in ever building it. I was not aware that it was no longer in production and I hope that Dragon does re-release it as it seems to be a nice kit.

Thanks to all for their advice on the overall color for my Firefly. Your information will come in handy very soon as I am not that far away from begining the airbrushing. For my first armour piece I am really enjoying it!

So thanks again for your tips and info! I appreciate it.

Kind Regards,
Don

OK, from the top, the Commonwealth colour mantra:

There is NO SUCH colour as Khaki Drab, only SCC15 Olive Drab.

There is NO SUCH colour as Khaki Drab, only SCC15 Olive Drab.

There is NO SUCH colour as Khaki Drab, only SCC15 Olive Drab.

A firefly would be painted in British SCC15 OD as it was a heavily reworked vehicle. Standard Shermans would be American OD. Brit vehicles before the spring of 1944 would all be painted SCC2 Brown (imagine fresh dogsh*t) and all new vehicles after that point would be SCC15. Bronze green is a post war colour. Nothing was painted that during the war.

For a detailed explanation of all of this, go to the MAFVA web site, in the Resources section. There are colour mixes there for Humbrol paints. For those using acrylics, I like Tamiya OD with a touch of medium green (just a touch) lightened with dark yellow.

HTH

Paul