LP-58 NATO Green

Tamiya LP-58 NATO Green, a lacquer paint, 10 ml

LP-58 NATO Green is a modeling paint from Tamiya out of the LP line. It is neither an acrylic nor an enamel but a lacquer (nitro), a chemistry of its own with its own thinner. Tamiya acrylics are thinned with X-20A, enamels with X-20 and the LP lacquer paints with LP-10 thinner, so it is worth keeping the three apart. The shade is the base green of the standard camouflage of NATO vehicles, that is the green component of the three-color scheme of green, brown and black that the armies of the alliance have used on armored and transport equipment roughly since the 1980s. The green forms the predominant area in it, into which irregular brown and black fields are added. Without the remaining two shades you cannot put the scheme together, which is why the paint is practically always bought together with NATO brown and black. The bottle holds 10 ml.

Use

• The base green layer of the three-color camouflage of modern NATO equipment.
• Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, transport and engineering equipment.
• Containers, trailers, artillery and gear for modern dioramas.
• A base for masking, as brown and black fields are comfortably masked and sprayed onto a dried lacquer.
• Airbrush as well as brush; the hard film resists enamel and takes later washes and filters.

Painting tips

Apply the green first and over the whole surface, over a primer and in thin coats, as lacquer is more aggressive to plastic than an acrylic. Once it has dried (which is quick with a lacquer) you can move straight to the other colors of the scheme; the boundaries of the fields in modern camouflage tend to be sharp, so it pays to mask with tape or shaped modeling putty. Bring the extensive green areas to life with a light misting of a lighter tone in the centers of the panels and an enamel wash into the engraved lines.

Who the paint is for

For modelers of modern military equipment and present-day dioramas and for everyone who works with lacquer chemistry and an airbrush.

A lacquer has strong fumes, so thorough ventilation and a respirator are compulsory. Do not apply it over uncured enamel or acrylic, as it would dissolve them. Flammable: keep it away from fire and out of the reach of children.