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US WW2 Olive Drab


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I've got a load of US Shermans to paint for the Flames of War game and just want to check what Olive Drab base colour to use.

 

I remember building the Tamiya 1/35 M4 Sherman kit when it came out in the 90's (nice kit too!) and I'm sure it quoted AS06 (spray paint) Olive Drab. I've ran this through the Ultimate Paint Conversion Chart and the closest match in Vallejo (which is what I mostly use) is Brown Violet (RLM81 in the Model Air range). Now Brown Violet or RLM81, does look similar to Tamiya's AS06 if I remember right. What do other people think about US army olive Drab in WW2?

 

thanks

Mike

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I asked once about Olive Drab, and was told it had many shades, no definitive one, and to use whatever colour I thought it looked right. I use Revell 66 Olive Grey as Olive Drab, if that helps.

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2 hours ago, Mikemx said:

Dear admin team - I appeared to have clicked on the wrong WW2 section - please move my post into the WW2 armour section, which is where I meant to put this post!

 

sorry about that

thanks

Mike 

now moved

2 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

I asked once about Olive Drab, and was told it had many shades, no definitive one, and to use whatever colour I thought it looked right.

Sounds about right for OD

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Having owned, operated and restored several WW2 US vehicles. there are several shades of "official" olive drab paint to choose from. Coupled with the fact that wartime US olive drab was pretty unstable, then there was a whole palette of potential colours ranging from brown, through greens to almost pink after time in the field. Any shade you choose will probably be correct!

 

Steve 

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Definitely a can of worms, with no solid answer. Read this page - https://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_odpaint.php

A fair number of modelers would tell you today that Tamiya XF-62 is way too dark for the WW2/Korea era. More appropriate for the late 50s/Vietnam era, until the arrival of the MERDC colors in the 70s. It's not a question where someone can just tell you 'this is the right color'. You need to research a bit, look at some colors, and make a decision. 

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7 hours ago, Asmodai said:

Definitely a can of worms, with no solid answer. Read this page - https://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_odpaint.php

A fair number of modelers would tell you today that Tamiya XF-62 is way too dark for the WW2/Korea era. More appropriate for the late 50s/Vietnam era, until the arrival of the MERDC colors in the 70s. It's not a question where someone can just tell you 'this is the right color'. You need to research a bit, look at some colors, and make a decision. 

Very wise words. I have a six bottle set of Olive Drab colours from Lifecolor, and they are all different. They range from a shade which was in use up to 1943, two from 1944-45, one up to 1950 and then two more labelled as "faded" versions of the first two. This topic comes up every so often with regards to many colours, and what you need to remember is that there is no one true shade for any colour due to many factors. The sun, and the weather can take it's toll on paint. Geographic locations such as desert can drastically change the shade. Repaints at depot level can be very different to the factory finish, plus how crews clean the vehicles. In the 60's, we used to wash ours down with a mixture of petrol and oil, giving it a slight sheen. You need to look at relevant photos, and decide how you want to depict it, and most of all, do a lot of research.

 

John. 

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