Jump to content

Best paint match for US Army OD


Recommended Posts

I'm starting a late vietnam era UH-1H and need to make sure I have the best match for the paint. Model Master OD (FS34087) looks a bit to greenish. All the pix seem to show the paint on these helos to be distinctly on the brown side. Field Drab (FS30118) almost seems like a better match.

What say you experts?

John

Link to post
Share on other sites

Floyd Werner, Jr suggested Tamiya Olive Drab (which is a lot darker than Model Master's OD 34087) for a later war OD, which is what I used on this OH-58A Kiowa;

100_0433.jpg

On a side note, I mixed a little Future in to give the paint a slightly glossy sheen.

HTH,

Alby

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
MM has a specific Army Helo Green color. I can't remember the number right off, but I believe I still have a bottle at home. I'll check it out after work.

Thats for modern Helo Drab

For Vietnam Olive Drab I am also leaning towards Tamiya or even Gunze (they have like 3 different shades of OD)

Also Revell and Humbroll have nice OD colors. All together I have about 10 shades of OD from various manufacturers which I use all the time to breake down the color for scale effect...

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's a link to a pic that pretty well illustrates late 'Nam era OD

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Army/...uois/0818016/L/

This Huey is 70-16296, and to the best of my knowledge, never went through depot at Corpus, so the paint is the original that Bell applied in 1971.

To my mind, Tamiya OD looks like a pretty good match.

There was also an older, lighter, browner OD (more like field drab) used previously. We had another Huey, 67-17145 that also had never been overhauled, that was this lighter color

Link to post
Share on other sites
Here's a link to a pic that pretty well illustrates late 'Nam era OD

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Army/...uois/0818016/L/

This Huey is 70-16296, and to the best of my knowledge, never went through depot at Corpus, so the paint is the original that Bell applied in 1971.

To my mind, Tamiya OD looks like a pretty good match.

There was also an older, lighter, browner OD (more like field drab) used previously. We had another Huey, 67-17145 that also had never been overhauled, that was this lighter color

Thanks very much for that picture, that is a big help. Definately a much different shade than what was used in the 60's. Still seems to have a little gloss to it as well.

Regards,

John

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 years later...

Here's a link to a pic that pretty well illustrates late 'Nam era OD

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Army/...uois/0818016/L/

This Huey is 70-16296, and to the best of my knowledge, never went through depot at Corpus, so the paint is the original that Bell applied in 1971.

To my mind, Tamiya OD looks like a pretty good match.

There was also an older, lighter, browner OD (more like field drab) used previously. We had another Huey, 67-17145 that also had never been overhauled, that was this lighter color

The pic in your link was taken in 1993 for a FY70 airframe. The finish in that photo is glossy or semi-glossy. If that's the original late-Vietnam era paint (you are assuming the airframe was never repainted in 20+ years) then I'm pretty sure it's been waxed or has some other overcoat of some kind. The late Vietnam-era low-reflectance Aircraft Green was as flat as Paris Hilton. The paint shown in the photo appears more green than standard late-war low-reflectance OD but that may just be a photographic artifact.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

Link to post
Share on other sites

The pic in your link was taken in 1993 for a FY70 airframe. The finish in that photo is glossy or semi-glossy. If that's the original late-Vietnam era paint (you are assuming the airframe was never repainted in 20+ years) then I'm pretty sure it's been waxed or has some other overcoat of some kind. The late Vietnam-era low-reflectance Aircraft Green was as flat as Paris Hilton. The paint shown in the photo appears more green than standard late-war low-reflectance OD but that may just be a photographic artifact.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

Is there an official FS # for that late war "Aircraft Green" color? Definitely is different than the brown OD that was used on earlier helos. I've seen Hueys and OH-58's in this color, haven't seen any Loaches or Cobras painted in this shade though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Is there an official FS # for that late war "Aircraft Green" color? Definitely is different than the brown OD that was used on earlier helos. I've seen Hueys and OH-58's in this color, haven't seen any Loaches or Cobras painted in this shade though.

The low-reflectance OD paint spec was MIL-L-46159 and was called "lacquer, acrylic, low reflective, color aircraft green". There was no specific FS number color match. The MIL standard called for the paint color to match samples provided by the Army to the manufacturer. Nowhere in the MIL standard does it reference FS-595 colors.

The color component of the OD mix was (based on weight):

14.9% yellow iron oxide

2.0% red iron oxide

7.8% black iron oxide

5.1% carbon black

48.2% crystalline silica

20.5% diatomaceous silica

1.4% organo montmorillonite

The paint was specifically formulated to have a low-IR reflectance and the smoothness approximated 600-grit sandpaper. It was dark, and it was flat.

I believe this paint coupled with the use of various types of exhaust-suppression kits, was a response to the emerging threat of man-portable surface-to-air missiles in SEA.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...