"NATO 3-Tone Paint Colors?" Topic

Needing some feedback on what paint others are using for NATO 3-tone camo. Have been using Tamiya (good match), but don't like the paint much. Have seen FS recommendations for Vallejo Military Green and Leather Brown, but neither look right at all.

Don't want to be stuck painting 100+ vehicles with Tamiya if possible. MiG paints look good, but I can only find them in sets, not individual bottles. Any help appreciated.

Just curious, are you brush painting Tamiya or airbrushing. IMHO Tamiya works fantastic via airbrush…

Also are you doing US, French, or German vehicles in 3-tone? Hakata does a set of French armor colors, which includes the 3-tone color set. French colors are slightly different FREX US or German colors (the green, FREX is much more saturated IMHO). For the green on US vehicles I used Field Green from Testors, a little more green than the Tamiya NATO Green, but not as much as the French shade. Looked closer to how US equipment was painted in my mind…

Damon.

Damon,

Brush painting. Only doing US vehicles at this point. Was hoping for a good Vallejo match if nothing else.

Worth looking up paint comparison sites, for example link link

The Mig and AK three tone sets are good, and arguably you'll be more satisfied with them as brush paints than as ab paints.

Garrison,

Thanks, have those bookmarked, problem is the recommendations are all over the place, and every time I check one out (I paint chip all my colors), it is off. NATO Green especially seems a hard one to match.

McWong,

Not disagreeing with you, my main issue is I only see them on eBay in sets, and for the number of vehicles I need to paint I would be spending well over $100 USD on paint alone. Being US based, I am limited to what I can get locally, or on sites such as Miniature Market or Warstore. Makes Vallejo the best choice, with Tamiya and Model Master (and various craft paint brands) available at local hobby shops.

Invested heavily in Vallejo because of this.

If all else fails will grudgingly stick to Tamiya for 15mm (at least I know the colors are accurate), and just try to closely color match for 1/600.

Thanks, have those bookmarked, problem is the recommendations are all over the place, and every time I check one out (I paint chip all my colors), it is off. NATO Green especially seems a hard one to match.

Thing about NATO green is that the actual shade can vary quite a bit depending on nationality. As I mentioned, it appears to my eye that the French version is much greener than either the German or US versions, with the US version somewhere in the middle. So sure you can have several different recommendations for NATO Green depending on what nationality the person is basing their opinion on!

Damon.

You are able to order individual bottles from either outfit, and at least one of them has free shipping iirc. I'd certainly rate them as better options than Tamiya for brush painting.

McWong,

Checked Warstore and Miniature Market, neither has AK or MiG series paints that I can see.

At any rate, I saw an earlier thread here that mentioned Vallejo Surface Primer NATO Green as a decent brush-on alternative, so ordered a large bottle of that. Will also give the Model Master line a look at a local hobby shop this week.

Don't mind the MM for brushing, goes on well. The Tamiya OTOH…..

Garand,

True, thing is I have seen about five Vallejo greens mentioned as equivalents, and every time I have checked actual color samples, none of them have been close (darker or lighter), but different greens altogether.

Luckily for Soviet/Russian colors (WWII to Modern) have had the perfect Vallejo shades for a while, just the NATO 3-Tone has presented an issue. As per my post above ordered Vallejo's NATO Green Surface Primer based on an earlier thread recommendation, so hopefully that will work. Brown won't be as hard to match.

For me, it was the 4 tone NATO scheme, getting the right black. It's more of a charcoal than black. i went with Tamiya for all 4 NATO colors. I use a brush, also.

Check the actual Mig and AK websites. If you'll only order from warstore and MM, I totally respect that, but you're limiting yourself to some great ranges out there.

McWong,

If these other ideas don't pan out I will certainly be looking into it. The paints do look great, and I have my eye on that modern Russian set for sure.

Tom,

I found Vallejo 995 German Grey to be a perfect match. YMMV.

I have been using green spray primer and GHQ paints or paint from craft stores. Arts and craft stores such as Michaels carry a wide variety of paints. Take something with you that has the colors you want to match and you should be able to find a match for a lot less than the hobby store paints. While hard to find green spray primer is still available from some suppliers.

Hi, Cold Warrior. I had tried that first, but it just didn't work for me. Appreciate the suggestion, though! Despite shaking the bottle up for a couple of minutes, it still came out with a sheen to it. The Tamiya NATO Black came out perfect on the first try. Nice and flat, just like the original I saw.I admit, I saw the original color as a very dark gray- which is why i went for the 995 bottle first.

Dunno…maybe I just got a bad bottle of Vallejo 995?

v/r
Tom

The tests I did on 995 came out flat, that is strange. The Tamiya NATO black is certainly perfect, but as per my post above trying to get away from those paints.

IrishSerb gave me another suggestion via PM that may work "950 Black (with a drop of white to a little smokey)". I'll be trying this as well to see how it turns out.

Also found the Delta Ceramcoat Charcoal to have the right look, but have not tried it on a model as yet.

I use rattle cans for my nato 3-color, and mask with play dough. The colors I use are

Krylon Camouflage Forrest Green
Krylon Camouflage Brown
Walmart Flat Black

All three are readily available at my local walmart, and really do the part.