Last year I started Tamiya's M4 Early Production version as my first attempt at armor. I went and airbrushed it with PollyScale Olive Drab which is more brown than green. It doesn't look bad, but now as I do more research (after the fact) I see most Shermans are painted Olive Green. So I have two questions for the armor experts:
1) Is Olive Drab "wrong" for this M4?
2) Any favorite brands for acrylic Olive Green (Tamiya, Pollyscale, etc) ?

Many thanks in advance . . . Kevin

Hi Kevin...You are very right about the color ...And yes your sherman should be olive drab...We modellers have been greening up our shermans (myself include) and there seems to have been a couple of different shades used during the war ....At first it was very brown (Olive drab paint is a mix of black and yellow ocrhe paints). I think by the end of the war the tint had gotten greener but there was no official change in the color....I usually start with Tamiyas OD and then tone it down by adding tamiya buff to the paint and do the inside of the panel lines ..You are on the right track.. This is only my opinion!!

Richard

I have seen differents shades of OD, even though the lot number is the same, this could be lighter, like is was faded or a little geener,or browner this was the same thought out W.W.2 and this was from armor to even clothes and field gear, items will have same QM tag but yet the color is not the same. I would say when a change took place in painting the color thus changed even though is was the same lot. As for your M4 project I would agree with the bear in how he tones it down, the big thing to make sure it is dead flat, except for area's of wear and traffic these spots would show a minor shine. (flat rough paint will shine if buffed) I myself use Tamiya OD and Olive Green and do the toning as needed.
Hope this helps.....Bill

For my Shermans I use Humbrol OD (Nª 155) and they look great to me.

Hi All,
OK, here are the facts about WW2 US OD #9 as related to me by Charles Lemmons, curator of the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, KY. Initially OD #9 was extremely dark (Tamiya XF-62 is about right) and this was used from the 1920's and 30's up until early 1942. At this point, the Japanese had cut off the supply of linseed oil, a vital ingredient in the manufacture of paint. The color was reformulated without it and when wet looked the same as the earlier formulation. However, when the "new" paint dried, it dried much browner and less green (Polly Scale, as noted above). This paint was used from about early 1942 until early to mid-1944. By this time, linseed oil supplies were available again and the "old" paint formula was reinstated, hence the difference in colors with the same name and number. Hope that helps to clear everything up!
Regards,
Georg
8)
"I don't make the same mistakes twice... I make new ones"

Mac:

Unless you're modelling a tank straight from the factory, I wouldn't worry too much about it being "too brown" or "too green."

OD weathered and faided into just abut every shade of greena dn brown imaginable. I base coat all my U.S. vehicles with Model Master Olive Drab and none of them are the same color when I'm done weathering.

If you have a chance, examine real uniforms and equipment from WWII -- then try to decide what is the "REAL" color for anything.

I appreciate everyone's advice! At least I won't ave to entirely repaint my M4 and it's a good excuse to build another in a more Olive Green scheme. I do plan on weathering it quite a bit and I hope a "dust" color pastel and paint will show up. If not, I'll have to make the dirt darker. It's fine either way.

Thanks...Kevin

Heck, when you are done you can do a post-war Sherman using the semi-standard OD mixed with gloss black to give the vehicle the "parade like" finish with that deep dark glossy OD green finish. That's always been my favorite "shade" of OD.