I am finally building my first armor model after much sci-fi, and I need some paint color help. I went to my local hobby store who sells older consignment kits (so I am not out much if I screw up) and bought a BMP-1 and a KV-1.
First question: WWII russian green, assume I am NOT going to weather this kit very much, so the answer of “any green will do” before weathering will not work for me. I mainly use Tamiya paints, but am not adverse to model masters acryl. I do prefer Tamiya.
Second question: Cold war 1960’s Soviet army green. Is it a different color than was used in WWII? Is there a good color match for this?
Thanks so much to anyone who takes a moment to answer what I know is a total noob set of questions!
For Russian armor from the WWII era, I’ve heard of modelers using Tamiya XF-13 JA Green. However I’ve never personally used this certain color of paint so I can’t personally recommend it. ModelMaster also makes the color Russian Armor Green in both acrylic and enamel. Which is pretty much perfect for Ruskie armor, this one I’ve used and find it to be near perfection.[tup]
As for Cold War Soviet armor green, I’m not really too sure. I believe the shade of green was different from WWII, however I could be wrong. Hopefully another modeler can answer this question for you.
I have seen a bit of Soviet cold war hardware here and there. There seems to be some more variation in the standard green color used than in US olive drab. Ihave never seen a dead on match for the most common shade, but a good starting point is darker than 34151 green and more olive in hue. Similar to Forest green 34127 but again, more olive.
Soviet quality control being what is was, I feel pretty good using MM Dark Green (#1910/FS 34079)… Seems to match up best with the Cold-War Taman Guards white-walled stuff that paraded through Red Square every May…
As for WW2-era, I’m not a big fan of Soviet stuff and when I do it, it’s whatever green “looks right”…
A thought that I’d like to share: Steve Zaloga was amazed at the trend to have Sov WW2 dark green being too bright green by some buiders. He said there was NO basis of that at all.
In WWII the Russians used a color they called “Protective Green”. There’s 1 very reliable research book on the subject, unfortunately written in Russian.
White Ensign of England make an enamel called “Russian armor green”. White Ensign is renowned for accuracy. Here’s a T-34 I’m working on right now painted using the White Ensign enamel.
I’not sure about the modern color used by the Russians on post-war tanks.
