British Army green

[Centaur95]

+1 for Tamiya Field Grey (XF-65).

 

Cheers,

Centaur

[Julien]

On 16/06/2018 at 15:18, Old pro said:

An insight to British green, pick one and go with it, especially for the Cold War period, although there was a standard green colour, how it was mixed, thinned, and applied affected as to what colour it dried! It was even possible to see various tones of green or black on the same vehicle, from the vehicle being touched up.

I have seen it applied direct from the tin, and then when the tin was getting low some thinner chucked in as no one wanted to walk back to the paint store for another tin!

[fewr9fkr9595]

7 minutes ago, Julien said:

I have seen it applied direct from the tin, and then when the tin was getting low some thinner chucked in as no one wanted to walk back to the paint store for another tin!

 

Sounds about right! 

[Old pro]

8 hours ago, Julien said:

I have seen it applied direct from the tin, and then when the tin was getting low some thinner chucked in as no one wanted to walk back to the paint store for another tin!

Either that or we only had the one tin per garage, not to forget the application of Kero to make it look nice for inspections😂😂😂

[sailorboy61]

If you're doing any kind of filtering/washes/weathering, I find it's all pretty pointless going for 'the' colour. Yes not all green is green, but ball park always worked out OK for me.

[ancientmariner]

I have AFV Models Scorpion and Scimitar kits to build. Will the green colour be the same as the Chieftain. Instruction are very vague with the green colour, as is the same if you want to do a desert version.

Martin

[Kingsman]

Short answer.  Yes.

[ancientmariner]

thank you for that

martin

[fewr9fkr9595]

And here is something in green I drove to the ranges the other day...

 

Rather faded I think you’ll all agree!

 

Check out the ‘tan line’ from the bonnet (opened for first parade)

 

 

Hope this is of use to someone. 

 

Also note on offside where some green has scratched through to black from when it would have been two tone and then down to bare metal aswell. 

 

[Julien]

Also note the dent on top from 1000 bergans and probably backsides as well !

[Dads203]

The dent is probably from putting up the cam net and caused by a nice size 10

not sure why you would put a Bergan or a backside on a Land Rover wing unless things have changed from my time , those items are best stowed inside

[Steben]

A very old thread. Sorry.

I just had to bump in.

If you mix 2 x Revell 46 with 1 x Revell 67 you get very close to several references.
Again, NATO GREEN IRR is a very unstable coating. Or used to be either way. It can become lighter and sandy or even greyish.
Not unlike French VERT IR and Belgian NATO GREEN IRR (which are almost a match)

 

A tad of RAL8027 added to RAL6031 is a good base as well.
Summarized it is close to ww2 US Olive Drab but lighter and slightly greyer.
And a bit less green than SCC15.

 

In different conditions it can look rather green or rather grey or even olive drab.

 

Older, pinkish faded NATO GREEN:

Edited November 3, 2021 by Steben

[Kingsman]

A trio of MAN SV trucks at Stanley Barracks Bovington a couple of weeks back. 

 

All 3 are slightly different ages from the ERMs.  The somewhat bent DROPS 8x8 in the middle is newest, the 6x6 on the right is the oldest  All 3 are visibly different colours. Note also the one in the background on the right.  There is clearly an age degradation to a browner shade, at least in the paint used by MAN and presumably sourced in Germany.  But note how the rear tilt covers have remained close to their original colour and have not faded like older tilts used to do.

 

[ivan-o]

Oops! FMT3 and OC’s orders for someone.

[Modeler8522]

On 22/02/2015 at 13:00, phildagreek said:

Any thoughts on the correct green for British Army vehicles; Land Rovers, Challengers etc etc etc.

Tamiya says XF61 which translates into a tin of Humbrol 172 which doesn't seem to exist any more on the rack in my LHS.

I know paint fades, it gets touched up, it gets muddy etc but what about a good starting point?

Thanks.

Best looking accurate for the dark shade green I found was scale 75 US DARK green SW52 is the code and for the lighter tone ammos olivegrun opt ral 6003

[Steben]

On 27/05/2022 at 19:16, Modeler8522 said:

Best looking accurate for the dark shade green I found was scale 75 US DARK green SW52 is the code and for the lighter tone ammos olivegrun opt ral 6003

 

Do not know those.
Real life RAL6003 is almost fluorescent compared to NATO GREEN. 

[Casey]

On 7/20/2017 at 12:17 PM, Troy Smith said:

"BS381C 285 NATO Green"

I have the original BS381C specification book. Want a photo of the page with some color matches? Which one you want to compare with?

 

I do not have infrared spectrophotometer, but my BS real sample does not show a peak on long wavelengths, quite the reverse - the curve goes down at around 670nm,

 

This is *VERY* different from the paint sample from a fan deck reproduction, even if the resulting color is close match of 1.3 DE difference, the spectra is different.

 

 

^{And sorry for tiny bit of thread necromancy here I have played level 20 warlock necromancer in DnD and thats my excuse!}

Edited June 14, 2022 by Casey

[TheEdge]

Apologies for waking a dead thread but it seems an idea to bump this than start the same one.

I've got an AS-90 to paint in the modern UK based camo pattern and I'm struggling to really work out what the best Vallejo shade of green to use is. Off this thread I went and bought 70.896 which is given as the XF-61 equivalent. I've airbrushed over Tamiya grey primer and the result is much bluer than I imagined it would be. I don't know if this it what it should be, I've got the wrong green entirely or if I need to go over it again with the airbrush as this is my first kit with an airbrush so its a learning curve. I'm really after Vallejo solutions as my local model shops only stock Vallejo or Humbrol, I'm not keen on using the latter.

 

So basic questions, are modern British armoured vehicles this blue? (I've got an RFM Chally 2 waiting to build so I want the right colour for that!). Or have I got entirely the wrong green here? 

TIA

[Troy Smith]

11 hours ago, TheEdge said:

Off this thread I went and bought 70.896 which is given as the XF-61 equivalent.

I have two jars of XF-61 that are distinctly different colours...  trying to find colours in another range by matching to another model paint range is likely to cause problems.

70.896 is 

German Camo Extra Dark Green [99] Vallejo Model Color 70.896

 

This is given in one source as being a match for WW2 British Dark Green G.4, though I have not checked since getting @Mike Starmer books.

 

for what you want

11 hours ago, TheEdge said:

I've got an AS-90 to paint in the modern UK based camo pattern

What you need to be asking is 'what is the specified colour, and is there a Vallejo match'

 

I suggest seeing what @Das Abteilung @Stebenand @Casey maybe able to suggest.   

 

 

[Casey]

I use this source of information which pretty well sums up changes in color history and got plenty of references to verify.

 

https://www2.emlra.org/index.php/british-army-green-paint

 

How I read it: deep bronze green for old ones and BS standard version of nato green (NATO Green BSC 381C No. 285) for the new ones, with period of weirdness between I liked the part about "vehicles left unpainted until used in combat" due to reactivity of IRR paints in 1980-81.

 

Also a lot of perceptural difference may be seen due to use of glossy finish on old vehicles. I admit, shiny glossy tanks on the battlefield do sound like a terrible idea...

[Steben]

15 minutes ago, Casey said:

I use this source of information which pretty well sums up changes in color history and got plenty of references to verify.

 

https://www2.emlra.org/index.php/british-army-green-paint

 

How I read it: deep bronze green for old ones and BS standard version of nato green (NATO Green BSC 381C No. 285) for the new ones, with period of weirdness between I liked the part about "vehicles left unpainted until used in combat" due to reactivity of IRR paints in 1980-81.

 

Also a lot of perceptural difference may be seen due to use of glossy finish on old vehicles. I admit, shiny glossy tanks on the battlefield do sound like a terrible idea...

 

My father in law used to paint vehicles during his service years. It's about same 1979-80 era. Belgium used nato green IRR by then. It was a drabby sticky paste, not airbrush paint at all.

British, French and Belgian nato green are very alike (STANAG you know...) and juuuuust slightly greener than RAL7013. A bit "tanned" NATOI GREEN by yellowing or dark thinner and RAL7013 is already surpassed.

 

The weirdness includes No 298 Olive Drab, which in dull flat mode comes close to ww2 SCC15. Them Brits are funny guys, switching back and forth between obsolete colours from 1945 to late 1970ties  .
Belgians are not better just different: first let's use the specific paint used on the specific vehicle of our allied suppliers, then let's use a slightly different version of what others use, but not too much, we're not French! 
 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Steben

[TheEdge]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

I use this source of information which pretty well sums up changes in color history and got plenty of references to verify.

 

https://www2.emlra.org/index.php/british-army-green-paint

 

How I read it: deep bronze green for old ones and BS standard version of nato green (NATO Green BSC 381C No. 285) for the new ones, with period of weirdness between I liked the part about "vehicles left unpainted until used in combat" due to reactivity of IRR paints in 1980-81.

 

Reading that I get the impression that the slightly blue grey finish is about right for NATO green that isn't freshly painted so the current finish would be ok. 

Although I do see there is a Vallejo pack of NATO colours. Seeing as I have a Challenger II, Leopard 2A6 and PzH2000 and the British vehicles are not painted in any strangle colours (which I thought we did) I guess that would probably be a good cover all investment for my future projects. 

[ivan-o]

Hataka do IRR green althogh it needs a slight bit of white in it.you can get it at super hobby’s 👍

[Scimitar F1]

The best one to my eye is Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green and used that on my CR1. I tried quite a few different paints (incl Xf-61) and it just looks better for a scale effect perspective. Adding yellow fades it.
 

When I was training at Bovington I painted a kit in paint ‘borrowed’ from the Tank park. It was far too bright.

 

Will

[Troy Smith]

On 30/06/2022 at 19:06, TheEdge said:

Although I do see there is a Vallejo pack of NATO colours

While Vallejo do an extensive range of colours,  overall I don't trust them to match a stated colour "with both hands and a map"....

But, FWIW, there is list of Model Color here

http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/paint_conversion.php/manufacturers_id/1/page/1

with approx matches, which maye give you an idea

 

From the comments and photos above, you want a medium olive green.   I'd have a look what's available in the shop, bear in mind they tend to dry a bit darker.

 

For example, these are ones I'd look at,  (they are colours i have)  

 

VAL888  Model Color - Olive Grey  888  

 VAL889  Model Color - US Olive Drab      

 VAL924  Model Color - Russian Uniform WWII 

 

Note the WW" SCC15 Olive Drab is 15 (Olive Drab)

1pt 70888 Olive Grey [92] + 1pt 70924 Russian Uniform WWII [094] 

 

This gives a quite green drab, 

On 30/06/2022 at 17:09, Steben said:

British, French and Belgian nato green are very alike (STANAG you know...) and juuuuust slightly greener than RAL7013. A bit "tanned" NATOI GREEN by yellowing or dark thinner and RAL7013 is already surpassed.

VAL887  Model Color - Brown Violet  887    RAL7013

Despite the name, it's an olive drab, browner than 889 above,   924 will fade it quite easily. 

On 03/11/2021 at 16:22, Steben said:

Again, NATO GREEN IRR is a very unstable coating. Or used to be either way. It can become lighter and sandy or even greyish.
Not unlike French VERT IR and Belgian NATO GREEN IRR (which are almost a match)

 

A tad of RAL8027 added to RAL6031 is a good base as well.
Summarized it is close to ww2 US Olive Drab but lighter and slightly greyer.
And a bit less green than SCC15.

Given the Vallejo I quote are ones I have used in mixes for US OD and SCC15,, these may get you into something that looks reasonable, 

 

It's worth getting some spare bottles,  (i got some 10ml off ebay) and making up little batches of mixes you like for projects, so you have enough for touch ups.

 

finally,  most colour deck are expensive and  FS595 deck is  £250 or so... ,

but e-paint do a RAL fan deck for £17

https://www.e-paint.co.uk/RAL-colour-guides.asp

Only 213 chips, but which at least gives you some kind of reference..  and means if you ask about a colour you can get a better idea of of what is being referred to. 

HTH