MODERN RUSSIAN COLORS VOL 2

The colors of today's Russian vehicles

Russian army vehicles still hold to green as their base color, but the shade has shifted over time and from maker to maker, and disruptive patches have been added to it. On today's tanks and armored personnel carriers a dark green therefore meets sand fields, brown bands and, on some machines, a cooler gray-blue tone as well. This set of six is the second volume of the palette and follows on from the older set from the same brand; it makes sense above all where vehicles are to be captured in their present finish, not in a museum coat.

Six tones and what they are for

• Russian green as the main surface of the hull and the turret
• Olive for distinguishing the chassis and older machines
• A pale sand shade for light camouflage fields
• Orange brown for brown bands and transitions
• Clay red for the base under chipped paint
• Gray blue for cool tones and accessories

The layering that gives a result

It pays to start from the darkest tone and to apply the lighter ones only where the sun would fall. Camouflage fields are sprayed freehand or through a peel-off mask depending on how sharp a transition is wanted; Russian vehicles tend to have soft boundaries. Clay red suits a base under the whole finish, which is then left to show through on chipped edges, or as the color of the inner surfaces of hatches.

What else it reaches

The green and brown tones are not tied to armor alone. They serve equally well on a truck, on containers and crates, on an artillery tractor and on crew figures, because these are the same colors the army uses across its equipment. The paints are applied with a brush and with an airbrush, and before application it is a good idea to shake them thoroughly so that the pigment settled at the bottom is dispersed evenly.