Paint color

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:42 am

A loooong time ago, I used Humbrol's medium green for my late-70s and early-80s US armor. It produced exactly the color I needed for those early M1s, M2s, and even the MERDC camo scheme I wanted. At the time, it was easy to find Him from paints in hobby shops. Since then, Him from has disappeared from stores and the company has changed its pallette, making on-line ordering somewhat dicey. Does anybody know what Him from color approximates their former medium green? No, the Model Master medium green is not correct. The color is too rich and doesn't produce the correct aspect.

Thanks in advance for any help.

pmskaar · Post by **pmskaar** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:05 pm

Hi Panzergator

I still use Humbrols for my painting and was wondering the stock number for the Medium Green that you used. I am planning to do some early M-1s and Bradley's and am looking for that base color.

Do you have the stock number for the color you used?

Thanks!

Pete

madman · Post by **madman** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:08 pm

If it is the old RAF medium green that is sold as #30 nowadays.

pmskaar · Post by **pmskaar** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:23 pm

Hi Madman

Thanks for the information. I appreciate it.

Pete

mike robel · Post by **mike robel** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:41 pm

Jim, this may be more trouble than you want to go through, but many 'professional' modelers add white to colors for a better "scale" effect. There is a noticeable difference between a given color when it is painted with out of the bottle paint vs one that has been diluted with white to give the proper "scale effect".

That said, I don't do it because it doesn't make that much difference to me, nor can I really see it, but your desires may be differenent.

I also find Tamiya NATO Green, Brown, and Black to be pleasing. No NATO Sand however, but they do have sand paint.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 12:11 am

I'm not sure which color is the old school US green color that you're looking for, but I use mostly Tamiya and Testors colors because that is what I have access to at my local hobby store. These M60s were painted with Testors - the left one is just straight OD green and the one on the right has a dry brush of a lighter green color over the OD. I'll have to look up the lighter color green when I get home.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:58 am

I too have the same issue with Model Masters Medium Green. Its too bright. I had hopes that it would be my go to for modern US vehicles but when I applied it to a test subject, it was not what I was looking for.

I too have tried to lighten some of my darker greens, to help with the dark appearance when applied, but using white did not seem to work. In some lights, it seems spot on and in others it is greyish. I used model masters Tricolor Green NATO and lightened it with 5% white (approx). I am not fully ok with the outcome. See below

Believe it or not, these were all painted with same lightened green. To Panzers point, in previous topics, the lighting has a dramatic effect on how the paint looks. The ones closest to the light seem to look a tag grey green.. The ones on the right look a little closer to what I wanted.

In an earlier attempt, I took the Nato Green and used 10% white, to paint a leopard, and that was defiantly too greyish.. The stryker was strait out of the bottle See below.

Again, thought this picture does not show it.. the less white/bright the light is, the better the color looks on the tank.

This leads me to think that maybe a lighter green, different shade, or maybe even a yellow could be used to lighten the Nato green correctly. I am not much into mixing colors and experimenting. Just not enough time in the day and feelings of low confidence. So I am not sure how that would work. I am thinking a mix of the medium green and nato green might be a good start.

just my experience and results.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 4:28 am

I always liked the polly S line of paints and their US armor olive was the best match for the tanks and tracks I saw all over Ft Hood when the Abrams and Bradleys were deployed.
Sadly that line of paints has been gone for years.

This is an old GHQ M60 painted that color:

And here are two Bradleys, the top one the old Polly S color and the bottom Vallejo US Dark Green which is the closest I've been able to find.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:07 am

Thank you all. Of the above, the LEO A6 is the closest. I wish I could remember the Humbrol tin number. It's been over 22 years since I used it, though. Another difficulty is, at 70, my perception of yellow has naturally deteriorated, making ALL colors seem different. The very first M1s were issued to 64th Armor in Germany in the color I'm looking for. I have pieces of a 1/35 scale M1 around. I'll try to post a pic. This color is after MERDC and before the NATO three-color camo.

I don't think adding white would help the Model Master medium green. The OD selections might be useful for my earlier units circa 1960-70.

Having finally given into the need for knee replacement, I'm planning for lots of down time catching up on painting.

madman · Post by **madman** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:12 am

Yup, number 30 Humbrol is what you are looking for. I have the old catalogs as well and there was another code by which it went, something based on RAF WWII European scheme. They dropped ALL their specific colours, which is why I have to use chocolate for brown Bess nowadays. Good luck.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:53 am

Thank you, Madman. I'll give that a shot.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:57 am

Cav Dog, I see you have both GHQ and CinC M2s. Do you keep them in separate units or mix them? I have the CinC in a cavalry squadron as M3s vs the GHQ vehicles in my next battalions.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:34 pm

Gator,

No, all of the M2/M3s in my "green" task force are from CinC. The GHQ M2 in the picture is a spare that I didn't need to repaint for my "sand" task force.

Each task force consists of two mech companies with M2s and two armor companies with M1A1s. The "green" task force has an armor battalion HQ and CSC while the "sand" task force has a mech battalion HQ and CSC. The 'green' task force is primarily CinC while the "sand" task force is GHQ.

Similar to your op, I decided to add another tank company to my green TF and since the Polly S paints were no longer available, I had to repaint them all, which is why they ended up Vallejo US dark green.

Like many gamers, I'm that OCD that the paint jobs have to be matchy-matchy.

Or maybe I'm just trying to keep the notional CSM happy...

madman · Post by **madman** » Sun Mar 08, 2020 3:35 am

Yuck!

I tried them, what 45 years ago when they first came out, and found them horrible. Probably since that was the start of the push to change over to water soluble paints. They made such an impression that 99% of my paints are still enamel. I even have some 30+ year old Humbrols I just have to add a little lacquer thinner to every few years and they keep going. Unlike my Model Master enamels which don't last a decade for me.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:48 am

I don't think I have ANYTHING painted with a water-soluble paint. WHAT IF IT RAINS!?

I guess I will have to try some. But tanks just get wet...

Paint color

Paint color

Paint Color

Paint Color

Poly S