What green was painted on the NATO tank? Can I use a Tamiya color?
The British camo is two colors of green and black, not NATO 3-tone camo as the US and most other NATO armies use. The green is a color called Bronze Green. I have no idea what the Tamiya color for it is though.
Bronze Green was last used on early British Army Chieftains, in the late 1960s/ early 1970s. This Saracen APC is painted in Bronze Green:
and, as you can see, is a satin colour.
Since the mid-late 1970s, the Britsh Army has used a softer, less dark green for its base camo colour. The black isn’t quite black. I know this because back in the day, we used to use Humbrol matt black to do minor touch up work on my Squadron’s radio wagons, and you could easily see the difference.
This JB Models 1/76 Bedford 4-tonner shows the two colours pretty well:
The closest match I’ve found for the green in White Ensign Models Colourcoats Modern British Army Green. Despite what I’ve written above, in small scales at least, Humbrol 33 is a pretty good match. Don’t use NATO Black. NATO Black is actually a very, very, dark greeen. There’s no hint of green in the British colour.
Mike if you can send your e-mail address to me at boone@unbsj.ca, I can attach some pictures I took of some Challengers and others in shipment to BATUS (British Army Training Unit Sheffield), Alberta, Canada.
Cedric