I am trying to do a diorama with a bradley and a humvee both from tamiya. However, I have not been able to find a paint or mixture that is true to the real color used on desert vehicles. Does Anyone have any suggestions?
Bucksierra,
I use Model Master US Armor Sand. With weathering and details it looks pretty good. I’ve got 6 Abramses in that scheme and a few Bradleys. It may be a little light, but it works well.
I wouldn’t get too worked up on the “exact” color, there wasn’t one in 91 anyway. During Operation Desert Storm I saw everything from brown, tan, sand, beige, to what I would swear was pink! When our Bradleys arrived in Country from Germany they had us mask over our vision blocks, lights and sights. Then they sprayed over the woodland camoflage pattern with the desert tan. As the day wore on so did the variation in color.
Buck - you’d have troubles finding a colour that is true to the real one on the actual vehicles. Weathering takes it’s toll on paint and by the time it’s been in the desert, even more so. Find a colour that is close, by the time you finish weathering it it’s going to be different anyways.
Point of interest, the Brits found out during WW2 that pink was actually a brilliant camouflage in the desert. They thought it would be otherwise, until they stumbled upon an aircraft that had been lost for a while… This is where the story goes two ways. One is that they painted a plane pink, thinking it would contrast against the desert sand. They promptly lost the aircraft. he other story is that the aircraft they had found had all its paint eroded by the desert sand, except the pink primer.
I’m in the 1st infantry Div. we’re not even having our vehicles painted tan, we’re takeing our stuff woodland, this might help out later when the companies make some kits of the 1st ID vehicles or throw in some decals for our stuff?
Good luck on your models and diorama Bucksierra.
mark956