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Unusual AFV camouflage patterns/colours


Keith Moynihan

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Hello again folks. This is becoming a bad habit. Me, continuously requesting information, help and support and giving nothing in return. So if my requests become too demanding and/or annoying please tell me. As the title says, I'm looking for a few camouflage patterns that may be possible alternatives to the standard NATO European scheme that is usually visible. This scheme, while striking and quite "attractive" can become a bit monotonous when applied to 10 or 12 vehicles. I'm doing a few Afghanistan vehicles which helps but I've seen a very vivid pattern applied to Greek Leopard 2 A6s which caught my eye. Having researched this scheme I am still at a loss as to the exact colour call outs. I don't think they are official NATO colours but beyond that I'm in a quandary so any information regarding the colours in this scheme would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to hearing from you whether it's a solution or a recommendation to pull my head back in.

Regards

Keith Moynihan

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Hi Keith, a picture of the scheme you mentioned for the Greek Leopard would be helpful if you have one. Also, are you only looking for Leopard paint schemes?

George

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Hi Keith,

If you look on the Scalemates page for the Meng Lep 1 (here), there's a link to view a pdf of the instructions which include the Greek scheme. The listed colours are for Vallejo, but you should be able to convert them to other brands.

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You could also try Hataka paints. Thet do paint sets for various modern armed forces, including quite a few Leopard users. I don't think they do a specific Greek set, but you might find something else of interest.

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Andy:cat:

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Depends how 'modern' you want to be. The US Army used a number of patterns in the 1970s and 80s prior to the NATO three-colour pattern. Try google searches on MASSTER (with two 's'), Dualtex and MERDC. The three-colour NATO scheme can also be varied by replacing the green with sand/tan - not widely seen but often associated with the NTC/Fort Irwin ranges and also with some USMC units.

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Norway, Finland and Sweden all use very stylish 'splinter' schemes with summer/winter variations.

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British army 'Berlin Brigade' camo is a classic eye catcher. Recently resurrected for some OPFOR Challenger 2s based on Salisbury Plain.

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The Greeks, South Koreans and others have used local variations of the MERDC pattern.

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The Russian have a range of different colour schemes for their vehicles.

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The Australians use a three-colour scheme that differs from the NATO colour and style - looks good on their Leopards and Abrams.

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Japan uses an attractive green/brown pattern with lighter shades than you'd see on NATO vehicles.

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Plenty of choice out there.

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John

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12 hours ago, Geo1966 said:

Hi Keith, a picture of the scheme you mentioned for the Greek Leopard would be helpful if you have one. Also, are you only looking for Leopard paint schemes?

George

I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to uploading/sharing images. I have a very vivid pic (pre weathering) of a Greek Leo 2 but I haven't the foggiest notion how to load it on here.

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11 hours ago, John Tapsell said:

Depends how 'modern' you want to be. The US Army used a number of patterns in the 1970s and 80s prior to the NATO three-colour pattern. Try google searches on MASSTER (with two 's'), Dualtex and MERDC. The three-colour NATO scheme can also be varied by replacing the green with sand/tan - not widely seen but often associated with the NTC/Fort Irwin ranges and also with some USMC units.

Ā 

Norway, Finland and Sweden all use very stylish 'splinter' schemes with summer/winter variations.

Ā 

British army 'Berlin Brigade' camo is a classic eye catcher. Recently resurrected for some OPFOR Challenger 2s based on Salisbury Plain.

Ā 

The Greeks, South Koreans and others have used local variations of the MERDC pattern.

Ā 

The Russian have a range of different colour schemes for their vehicles.

Ā 

The Australians use a three-colour scheme that differs from the NATO colour and style - looks good on their Leopards and Abrams.

Ā 

Japan uses an attractive green/brown pattern with lighter shades than you'd see on NATO vehicles.

Ā 

Plenty of choice out there.

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John

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Modern to me means 1990s on so 1960s/70s so MERDC schemes don't really come into play. I will however look at all the other suggestions out there. The Winter ones sound good and I've seen a few already. The Berlin Brigade scheme, while outside my "modern" preference is too iconic to ignore so I'll be doing one of those with the Takom Chieftain 2 in 1 kits and the Ammo MIG Berlin Brigade paint set. The Australian and Japanese schemes sound interesting and I've seen some of the Soviet schemes that look good. So all in all there's quite a few "out of the ordinary" schemes available. Cheers folks. As always a treasure trove of excellent information generously given. My deepest regards and I'm sure I'll be on here again with more inane questions.

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Some online photos of Greek Leps (such as the one below)Ā make the colours, especially the red/brown look much too saturated...

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qzw3y6yx1up01.jpg

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The actual colours aren't quite as vibrant but the red/brown does differ from regular NATO brown

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6a5d8e8f5afc31ccfa07a6740cececfb.jpg

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Fairly close approximations of the colours should be availale in most paint ranges

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You could also look at this PDF of the LM decal sheet for Greek Leps which has some relevant info

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http://leopardclub.ca/reviews/LM_Decals/GreekLeopards/LM35015_EN.pdf

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Andy:cat:

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On 08/05/2021 at 14:30, Andy Moore said:

Some online photos of Greek Leps (such as the one below)Ā make the colours, especially the red/brown look much too saturated.

I might have believed that; the red-brown looks like the "mud" we get on Cypriot potatoes.

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They are exactly some of the pics I have and as mentioned the "red earth" colour looks vibrant or over saturated. Looking at the street pic with my human eyeball mk 1 the Humbrol colour call outs are 31 matt slate gray for the "faded" green, 62 matt leatherĀ  for the earth tone, 121 matt pale stone for the small beige sections and 92 Matt iron gray for the faded black sections. Some leeway with the last one. A bit of weathering will tone everything down obviously. Any additional comments welcome.

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