"Vallejo Surface Primers Too Dark?" Topic

Maybe I should be taking the word "primer" in the Vallejo airbrush paints more seriously, but it would appear that the Verde Russo & British Bronze Green come out too dark.

Here are some KV-2s base coated in the Soviet Green (and then weathered).

These T-28s came out more like I visualize Soviet Green to be, but I think I used the Vallejo brush-on paint in the airbrush for these:

These Cromwells look ok, but I'm using a fair amount of flash on them.

Any thoughts?

Wyatt

Bronze Green is more appropriate for British tanks early in the war (roughly up to the end of 1940 from memory) and I wouldn't use it on Cromwells. For the invasion of Europe and beyond you really want a much lighter tone. Like others, I use Vallejo Russian Uniform green for my Cromwells, Shermans and Churchills and then add a light drybrush of pale yellow (sorry, can't remember the shade) to highlight edges etc if it needs it. Russian Uniform gives a good approximation of Olive Drab, which became the standard colour for British armour during 1944 so that US produced tanks didn't need to be repainted.

I think the Verde Russo is for Napoleonic uniforms rather than tanks and would fit that way.

I am painting a bunch of British Vehicles right now and I am using using Bronze Green. According to my information this is spot on for those vehicles put into service (or repainted) in 1944 or later. At first I did not like the tone either, but after weathering with Modelmates "Dirtbrown" and brushing it with MIG "Faded Allied Green" pigments I am really happy with it.

What color primer are you using underneath the paints?

Seems to me gray would be a good choice, and maybe even white, for microarmor.

Not sure what scale your vehicles are.

14th Brooklyn – I would be interested to hear what information you are relying on. As far as I am aware, Army Council Instruction 533 (promulgated in April 1944) specified Standard Camouflage Colour 15 (Olive Drab)as the new base colour for vehicles destined for the European theatre. SCC-15 is a much lighter shade than Bronze Green, which to the best of my knowledge wasn't used after 1941.

Copied from someone on here many moons ago so not sure who to give credit to but have found a 50/50 mix of Vallejo 888 Olive Grey and 924 Russian Uniform for UK/Commonwealth 44-45 Northwest Europe works very well.

These are 18mm (HO-scale) vehicles.

I know that the Vallejo ModelAir Surface Primers are for WW2 AFVs so I'm not worried about having inadvertently given them a Nappy scheme.

It's too late to repaint the Croms, but I'll try out the 50/50 mix of 888 and 924. I've also seen that a 4:3 mix of Tamiya Olive Drab and Olive Green works on 20mms so there'll be some experimentation.

Any thoughts on the Soviets?

Wyatt

I don't think they're too dark.

@Some Chicken:

The Info comes from Histoire & Collections "The British Soldier" Volume two.

@Wyatt: Not all their primers are for WWII. I know there are some specifically for moderns… Like NATO Green.

Thanks 14th. I have Bouchery's book and that's where I've gotten most of my references for the Brits.

Wyatt

Well they are primers. I've always assumed they are meant to be used in combination with other Vallejo paints in a modulation style of painting like they show on their Facebook page.

I don't think they were intended to function like the color primers from Army Painter or PSC, which may be why they appear too dark to you.

They are too dark, however…

Well they are primers. I've always assumed they are meant to be used in combination with other Vallejo paints in a modulation style of painting like they show on their Facebook page.

You just hit the nail on the head. I use it to prime/preshade my Cromwells and I'm very happy with the results. I'd share some pics but my office has instagram blocked.

Wyatt, I mixed a couple of lighter shades using a mix of the UK bronze green and… desert tan(?) or dunkelgelb surface primer(?) and white to brighten up the pure uk bg base coat. They've also got an AFV color modulation kit out there in the model air range now that I haven't tried yet but seems to follow the same idea.

14th Brooklyn and others – guys I have to say I am 99% certain Bouchery is wrong about Bronze Green in 1944.

I have H&C British Soldier volume 2 and assume you are referring to page 126 in particular which shows an AA Crusader in two-tone green. The Firefly turret underneath the Crusader is much closer to the correct shade adopted in 1944 IMHO (i.e. SCC-15).

I also found this very useful summary of the dates on which colour schemes changed officially on the MAFVA website:

link

Mike Starmer is one of the authors of the note as you will see. He knows his stuff on British armour colours and camouflage and I am very doubtful indeed that his analysis is wrong.

Here's a halftrack and Bedford that I painted up using the method I described. Looks like I created a midtone using 4:1 mix of the UK Bronze Green & Dunkelgelb surface primers, with a highlight of that mix with a bit of white added.

instagram.com/p/knzI0yBrXa