RAF Dark Green

[wschurr]

What is the best commercially available match for WW2 Dark Green? I’ve traditionally used used Xtracolor but since I cant get a reliable source in the US, I’ve started using Mr Color. Mr Color has two versions of this color but their rendition of the WW2 shade kind of resembles OD. What do you guys think?

[Rolls-Royce]

Sovereign Hobbies' Colourcoats enamels are available from two sources in the US, and are probably the best out there. If you want acrylics, the Tamiya XF-81 RAF Dark Green II is good. Vallejo also has some very close equivalents, but they are NOT the Dark Green in their WWII RAF color sets.

 

This topic has been discussed a lot here (last week, for instance). You can do a search for the other threads and find other recommendations.

Edited October 16, 2021 by Rolls-Royce

[Seawinder]

5 hours ago, wschurr said:

What is the best commercially available match for WW2 Dark Green? I’ve traditionally used used Xtracolor but since I cant get a reliable source in the US, I’ve started using Mr Color. Mr Color has two versions of this color but their rendition of the WW2 shade kind of resembles OD. What do you guys think?

I've got a couple of bottles of Mr. Color C-333 which they call BS381C/614 Dark Green. I think it looks pretty good, although it's a tad lighter and less gray than the chip in the MSAP set.

[alt-92]

Tamiya's XF-81 is tested as a very close match (CIELAB > 2) to the RAFM chips. 
That's my go-to. 

 

Mr.Color Acqueous  / H- series has seen some changes lately, H-72 Dark Earth is now more reddish than before. They may be reformulating more paints.

[JPuente54]

@wschurr Kitlinx does sell the Xtracolor line of paints here in the USA. Check their website to see if it is stock. Colourcoats is also a good brand; and can be ordered from two places here in the US. Again, check their sites to see if it is in stock. True North also has a line of RAF/FAA paints, you can also check them. HTH

Joe

[Rolls-Royce]

I don't have the Xtracolor enamels, but I did test the Xtracrylix colors last year with a spectrophotometer against my copy of the RAFM book. None were particularly close, with their rendition of Ocean Grey being the best at a dE (2000) of 3.98. Dark Green was at 4.91. Dark Green appears to be especially tough to pin down, and the best I found at the time was Vallejo's Model Color 70.894, at 1.4 dE.

[JOCKNEY]

Have you thought about Revell 36168 dark green ?

[jhutchi]

 

 

[Steben]

From best to little less best:

 

Vallejo 70.894

Tamiya XF-81
Vallejo 70.888

 

All are very usable when compared to RAF Museum published facsimile paint chart

Haven't checked the Revell though.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Steben

[Steben]

On 15/10/2021 at 16:11, Rolls-Royce said:

Dark Green appears to be especially tough to pin down, and the best I found at the time was Vallejo's Model Color 70.894, at 1.4 dE.

 

1.4 is quite good. Especially for modelling.
I still have a smile I quoted 70.894 without spectrometer and used eyeball first, then an array of photos in different ambient. The technique lets the machine do the work. Not rocket science but one can at least really rule the bad ones out.
And it is how the differences between that one and XF-81 and 70.888 got enlarged.

 

note: Dark Green is a bugger, yet Dark Earth is even worse

Edited November 4, 2021 by Steben

[Giorgio N]

12 minutes ago, Steben said:

 

1.4 is quite good. Especially for modelling.
I still have a smile I quoted 70.894 without spectrometer and used eyeball first, then an array of photos in different ambient. The technique lets the machine do the work. Not rocket science but one can at least really rule the bad ones out.
And it is how the differences between that one and XF-81 and 70.888 got enlarged.

 

Glad to see your results ! I've used Vallejo 70.888 for over ten years now for my RAF aircraft models, first happened by accident and then I kept using it as I liked the way this looked on the models. I'm very happy to see this paint among the best, even if it's the little least best...

I'll try 894 now and see how big the difference is

Edited November 4, 2021 by Giorgio N

[Steben]

7 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Glad to see your results ! I've used Vallejo 70.888 for over ten years now for my RAF aircraft models, first happened by accident and then I kept using it as I liked the way this looked on the models. I'm very happy to see this paint among the best, even if it's the little least best...

I'll try 894 now and see how big the difference is

 

If you use preshading or postshading and/or filters, you do not need a change.

We had those discussions before: the right colour compared to standards is one thing and is a honorable quest. What you do with the information for modelling is another.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Steben

[Giorgio N]

28 minutes ago, Steben said:

 

If you use preshading or postshading and/or filters, you do not need a change.

We had those discussions before: the right colour compared to standards is one thing and is a honorable quest. What you do with the information for modelling is another.

 

I sure agree ! Discussions on camouflage colours always catch my interest for the historical content alone, regardless of any interest I may have in building a model in those same colours. When it then comes to actually painting a model a lot of other things come into play...

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Giorgio N