Paint tips for tanks

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:39 pm

I struggle a lot with the paint choices I make for my vehicles. Not being blessed with having some fellow hobbyist in my circle of friends, I struggle on my own. I am turning to the community for some advice and suggestions.

I am currently trying to paint some vehicles using Tri Color NATO paint scheme. My attempts have met with positive feed back from all of you, but I feel like no matter how I tweak the color, something is always off.

So, I would be of great help to know what colors you use to duplicate this scheme. I am interested in what paint codes correspond with the color, if you know the mixture you use in a mixed color, the brand, and if its acrylic/lacquer/Enamel.

As an added bonus, it would be great and helpful if you included a picture of a vehicle, you used it on, to go with your suggestions.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Extra Crispy · Post by **Extra Crispy** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:35 pm

Here is what my first attempts looked like.

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... ght=#54149

I painted the tan first. Then dry brushed with bone. Then came the camo - green, black and pale sand. Finally I did any detailing: tracks etc. All paints were Coat d'Arms. I forget the exact colors used.

But if you see my German army thread you'll notice I'm not very fussy about colors provided: (1) the stupid thing is painted and 92) the colors are bright.

Not sure how helpful that is...

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:38 pm

Extra Crispy,

Thanks for the colors and pictures. I remember when you posted them, and I really like the results. If I am not mistaken, that is the MERDC camo pattern. I am going to keep a link to you pictures when I do up some of those vehicles.

The NATO Tri color is Black/Green/Brown. In particular, I am having trouble with the green color.. I lightened it up and it came out grayish tint. My post from earlier

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5867

I like the results, just think something is off. The Green does have a grayish tint, but the brown in particular is redish... I bought Tamiya NATO Brown and I think it came out as a lighter brown... I will try and post pictures of the two vehicles side by side..

I know I am splitting hairs on the colors and probably should have no problem with the results.. But I am a stupid a_n_a_l engineer and it nawing at me. LOL Just want to tweek it a little before I go all full production on my stuff.

rdenman62 · Post by **rdenman62** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:43 pm

I agree with Hoth.

rdenman62 · Post by **rdenman62** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:44 pm

I agree with Hoth there isn't any tan in the nato tri color scheme.
MIG pigments and paints make a set of what you need and they are pretty close
In my eye anyway to the real thing

jb · Post by jb » Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:23 pm

Ive used poly-S Nato green, poly-S Nato brown,Valejoe German dark grey for the "black".
These always turned out spot on for me. Now its been quite awhile since Ive painted them. I do believe I prime coated them with testors model master medium green, them painted the whole model with the poly-S Nato green and dry brushed the brown and dark grey.

paul · Post by **paul** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:42 am

What color does everyone use for their Soviets? I usually use the testors medium green spray but that is much darker compared to some of the figs I got from Gary Mills years ago.

rdenman62 · Post by **rdenman62** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:38 am

Hey extra crispy this site should help with your paint selection
http://www.cybermodeler.com/armor/m1/m1_profile01.shtml

Extra Crispy · Post by **Extra Crispy** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:36 am

Paul:

For what it's worth I base coat with Coat d'Arms Army Green, then dry brush with Vallejo Gunship green.

But I'm notoriously unfussy - I'm a gamer so anything kinda close is okay with me.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:58 am

Hoth, the TRI-color NATO camo is just that, green, brown, and black. "Tri" means "three," so there is no tan, if that was a question.

Start with a white spray primer. Use a thinned black applied with the tip of a brush to the seams and creases of the model so it is spread by capillary action. Then use Testor's Model Masters Medium Green, Brown, and a dark gray rather than black. Apply the same gray to the roadwheel rubber. Dry brush some Steel SPARINGLY over the surfaces. Scrape a No.2 pencil for graphite shavings, dip a clean brush in the shavings, and apply to the surface as you would a drybrush coat. I think you will be pleased with the result.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:22 am

Panzergator,

I was aware that the TRI meant three. I just bought into the hype and throught they had accurately matched the color to the actual one in real life.. Sadly I seem to have a mild level of buyers remorse.. LOL. I might give your color suggestions a try on my next batch.. I have begun using Panzer Grey instead of black on the wheels of my vehicles and have been happy with the results.

with that said...
I made a a second attempt on my GHQ Marder 1A3s. In an effort to get a better match on the NATO Tricolor Brown, I decided to turn to Tamiya Acrylic colors. For my second attempt, I used XF-68 NATO Brown in place of the XF-10 I used the first time. See photo Below

The three vehicles to the left use XF-10 for the brown and the three on the right use XF-68. I am not sure either looks quite right. I am goint to post these to the GHQ Forum and see which people like.

Which set do you like better.. right or left.

Keep in mind I am not unhappy with my vehicles, Just wanting them to be a little closer.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:26 am

Extra Crispy,

I know you directed your comment to Paul, but I thought I would contribute. I am trying to be more of a gamer, but I do like the pieces looking close.. Again, My engineering side kicks in when I least expect it. LOL My gamer buddies think I go over the top and one of them really does not care how the pieces look.. His are mostly single color and that works good for him. He is more about the rules and the game. I am trying to get better at close being ok. Getting feedback from the forum has helped me better tone down my need for perfection. I thank the group for that.

P.S. If anyone wants to send me a pic of there stuff instead of positing it through the site, I would love to see the results of your work. Just PM and I can forward my email.

Guroburov · Post by **Guroburov** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:16 pm

Looking at photos of NATO vehicles, I vote for the vehicles on the right. The brown is the best match. The other is good but the right is better.

Steve

Extra Crispy · Post by **Extra Crispy** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:35 pm

@Hoth:

Part of my casual approach is grounded in reality: I grew up in a military family and saw my share of vehicles. Watching a convoy of 12 trucks go by you'd see 6 slightly different greens. I'm sure the Soviets were the same. Slightly different paint, some newer, some older, some more weathered, etc. etc. The differences would be greater in an actual shooting match: dirt, rain, mud, etc.

The hardest part in this scale is accounting for scale effect in your color choices. A paint called NATO Brown may be spot on at full scale or 1:35 but will look all wrong (too dark) at 1:285. So in the end the only true standard is "I like it."

Another practical issue with Soviets: they die so fast, they aren't going to be on the table long, so even less reason to worry - I do sweat the camo colors much more.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:19 pm

@Extra Crispy,

I can certainly appreciate your approach.. maybe its less casual and more accurate then we all may want to admit. I also do not want all my tanks to be carbon copies on the board and think it adds to the fun if they look a little different. Part of why I lobbied for accessions for the tanks in the Modern vote GHQ put on.

In my search on the internet and my limited exposure to actual tanks in the field, I certainly have seen the same thing as you. Paints fade.. they get dusty, lighting, and a hole host of other things that come into play with the pigment and what your eye sees as a color. I typically try and start with each companies "Idea" what that color looks like.

In the end, I know that I have an obsessive compulsive nature and that is why I post. I am not shamefully looking for people to validate my abilities or plug for compliments. A good part of it is to temper my own highly critical self evaluation of my abilities. More simply put, it helps me to calibrate my thoughts on Its good enough and does not have to be perfect. I often look at something and say, that looks cool but its not right. Trying to work on stopping at it looks cool. LOL

thanks to everyone for the feedback, comments, and tips.