Warsaw Pact Vehicle Camouflage Pattern of the Cold War, 1949–1990

BTR-152.K and BTR-155 armoured personnel carriers painted Russian green.

Two-Colour Disruptive Pattern
Colour Designation	Humbrol	Model-Master*	Tamiya*	Gunze*	Pactra*	vallejo*
Light Olive, FS 34102	86	-	-	H303	A33	890
Pale Stone, FS 33531	121	-	-	H313	-	847
Light olive base colour with pale stone disruptive stripes. ESCI recommended this pattern for the T-62 MBT kit No. 8340.
Three-Colour Disruptive Pattern
Colour Designation	Humbrol	Model-Master*	Tamiya*	Gunze*	Pactra*	vallejo*
Bronze Green, RAL 6031	75	-	-	-	-	897
Blue Grey	-	-	-	-	-	-
This colour needs to be mixed from 75% grey, 20% white, and 5% blue.
Brick Red	70	-	-	-	-	940
Revell suggests this three-colour pattern for T-80.BV tanks of the Special Guard Motor Rifle Brigade "Berlinskaja", stationed at WGT Berlin-Karlshorst in 1994.
T-80.BV 1989
Colour Designation	Humbrol	Model-Master*	Tamiya*	Gunze*	Pactra*	vallejo*
Bronze Green + Leather Brown	-	-	-	-	-	-
Revell recommends this mixed colour for T-80.BV tanks of the Soviet 211th Armoured Regt, and the Soviet 79th Guard Armoured Division "Saporoschskaja" stationed at GSTD Jena in 1989. The colour consists of 75% Bronze Green RAL 6031 and 25% RAL 8027 Leather Brown.
Russian Green
Colour Designation	Humbrol	Model-Master*	Tamiya*	Gunze*	Pactra*	vallejo*
Matt Russian Green	114	WP7832	-	-	-	894
MAC Automodelle suggest this base colour for the BTR-152 armoured personnel carrier.
Olive Drab
Colour Designation	Humbrol	Model-Master*	Tamiya*	Gunze*	Pactra*	vallejo*
Olive Drab, FS 34087	155	-	-	H304	-	887
OMEGA-K suggest this base colour for the ZIS-157 truck.

* Acrylic paint.

Scale Colour

A paint chip taken from an historic armoured vehicle may very well be the same olive drab or panzer grey colour which the hobbyist can purchase from Revell and Humbrol today, but it would be a mistake to paint 1:72 scale models in this way. When viewed from a distance, the actual vehicle exposed to sunlight will appear much lighter than a small model painted in the same colour. Dust settling on the vehicle can highlight the overall colour even further, sometimes completely obliterating the camouflage effect and making it impossible to hide the vehicle against the dark background of a treeline or forest.

The scale colour concept allows the model builder to simulate this effect. The authentic base colour is used as an undercoat, preferably sprayed on, to speed up the painting process. The undercoat should be left to dry before additional paint is applied. Mix the base colour with white to highlight it and then drybrush it onto the vehicle. The raised surfaces of the model will pick up the highlight just like the real vehicle picks up sunlight. Viewed next to eachother, at the appropriate scale distance, of course, both vehicles will appear to be the same size and their overall colour should be similar, depending on the intensity of natural lighting the modeller wishes to recreate. Drybrushing can be done in several layers, using more white each time. A final layer of dust grey can be applied to simulate the cumulative effect which a dusty road march would have on the vehicle and its crew.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Soviet Red Army Miniatures of World War Two