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What do people use Humbrol 66 olive for?


sapperastro

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Hello all,

 

Just going through my paint horde here, and I discovered a fairly old, unopened tin of Humbrol 66 olive drab. Most of my other colours have been used now and again, but never this...Has anyone ever used this for any scheme? Does it actually match any used shade on anything?

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Don't know what H66 looks like now, I used to have an older tin and found it way too brown and dark for the Olive Drab used on WW2 US aircrafts. It was however not that bad to reproduce the dark green used on Italian aircrafts starting from the early '70s, as this colour is indeed quite brown.

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Wartime US OD did vary a lot, and being too brown wouldn't disqualify it.  As I recall it was certainly too dark, but then the reference colour Dark Olive Drab was very dark, and I thought it appropriate for Cold War/Modern examples.  But then I didn't make a lot of those, and I strongly suspect that better matches are now available.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I use this a lot for RAF Dark Green. As. In how it looked in the 60s-80s on some aircraft. Particularly after some time in service when they begin to fade. 

When I was at Cosford a few years ago I held my model up in daylight to a tornado and they looked the same. 

Not right for all aircraft but when you want that very dark green with a brownish/blue tone it works. 

Also really good for PC10 and great for weathering and shading. 

 

26206099978_ed54ab6b8a_b.jpgUntitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr

 

39369207534_c4fd2c0e89.jpgUntitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr

 

Rob :) 

Edited by robvulcan
forgot to attach photos
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18 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I used it for the dark green on a Finnish Hughes 500

Finnish%20Hughes%20500C%2C%2001s-M.jpg

 

and on a USAF Skyraider

Douglas%20Skyraider%2C%20USAF%2C%2003s-M

 

My tin of enamel is green [ish] but the acrylic pot is more grey

 

 

 

Haha thanks I was just thinking it would Ben perfect for this scheme. Again always seems much darker in reality to what we are told to use in the tins.

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Interesting you should say that Charlie, some years ago I said in a discussion on here that my tin of 66 was quite greyish & got put in my place a bit. I guess its all down to the well known variability of Humbrol paints with over time.

Steve.

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I have found humbrol to vary sometimes. Sometimes I'm glad of this.

ive also noticed with humbrols especialy newer ones that you can stir for ages and think the colour is weird then suddenly something happens and the colour changes to what it should be.

as for hu66 I've had greyer and greener tins the acrylic does seems greyer but it's one of them shads that can respond differently to certain lights. It can appear grey green, green, brown, brown green. Love the stuff.

 

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24 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I'd quite like a tin that matches what you & Black Knight have shown above but mine is rather greyer than that, bestt I buy another. It strikes me as a useful shade.

Steve.

 

Same here, my tins have always been too grey for either RAF Dark Green or the darker green in the SEA scheme

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Well mine are the acrylic version and I've found them consistent over the years just add Windsor and newton flow improver and stir like mad.

it all looks better after a coat of Klear.

 

its one of those colours that you perceive differently when it's seen alongside other colours like medium sea grey etc :)

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Here is a shot of my Vulcan from a few years ago and the Sopwith Pup I am making at the mo. Both use HU66 both brushed witht the acrylic variety before and after Klear and varnish.

 

28352089909_f02447a036_k.jpgUntitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr

 

on the Vulcan I was going for this look.

 

39421197864_5cef66eec3_b.jpgUntitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr

 

Cheers Rob :)

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  • 1 year later...

One of my older threads, but I discovered something that I thought I might put out there for discussion.

 

I am currently working on a fw 190a3, and while getting my usual colours ready for painting (h27, h32 and h127) I thought to myself 'isn't rlm 74 supposed to be grey green?'. Now I know h32 has the slightest green tinge to it, but after brushing out my tin of h66, it too is very dark grey with a slightly greater greenish tinge, and so I thought perhaps h66 would actually make a better rlm 74 grey green than h32. Thoughts?

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RLM 74 is a dark grey.  It has a slight tinge of green when new, if you look very closely (description provided by Ken Merrick on a website some years back)  but this fades to a plainer grey, as seen in several wartime colour photos  Artwork showing it as near to RAF Dark Green are just plain wrong. 

 

H66 is (or was) a fair match for Dark Olive Drab, which officially was the colour for wartime USAAF and Army, but in practice tended to be very varied and often lighter.  Being a touch browner than most representations isn't wrong in principle, but it rather depends what you are using it for.  B-17 and C-47 fins tended to be dark and greener than most parts of the same aircraft, which often did end up browner.  This is seen in several wartime colour photos, and whereas such should be treated with some caution they are backed up by text.  I recall an old British modelling publication stating that C-47 were painted in Dark Earth, which is a bit of a hint.  The British Army colour SCC 15 Olive Drab was introduced in 1944 because of a shortage of pigment for pure greens (being hogged by the RAF) and there a several comment that the US equipment was notably browner.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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