GHQ Models Forums

I got two Vietnam GHQ Huey slicks and am working on painting them, I have them painted in olive drab but the green looks to light to me. How should I paint them to get the correct color?

The actual color of the real thing is too dark at this scale.

Try blackwashing first. The black wash will run into the depressions and add detail and darken the overall color.

Hevier blackwash behind the jet exaust is a nice touch.

Also the south pacific fades the colors pretty rapidly.

Who's OD did you use? It is hard to say without a picture, but maybe try a brown wash? The OD was more brown than green.

I used GHQ olive drab CLR5

Having been an Army aircraft mechanic, when we did repaints we added some black to the OD to make it a little darker to help with the fading. There is an actual US Army Helo Drab (FS 34031) manufactered by Testors.

I primed mine in black and used Vallejo US Dark Green. I will double check the number when I get home but it looked a lot better for the UH-1 than any of the OD Greens I have used.

[quote="retired_to_ft_living_room"]Having been an Army aircraft mechanic, when we did repaints we added some black to the OD to make it a little darker to help with the fading. There is an actual US Army Helo Drab (FS 34031) manufactered by Testors.[/quote]

I have the Testors Helo Drab, which I now use for my modern (post-Vietnam) US helos. It looks great, but it is definitely very dark.

Pat Callahan

The helo drab is a good representation of the non-IR reflective paint that the Army started using in the mid 70s when SA-7s appeared. It is a very dark OD and is responsible for many of the black helicopter rumors that conspiracy theorists are so fond of.