Here’s Uncle Les’s take on modern Aussie AFV colours for scale wargaming purposes.

I was asked about the colours I use on the finished vehicles. They are painted in enamel paints with an expectation for some heavy usage as they are usually used as wargaming items – especially the ones that are with the ADF now.

The colours I use on Australian modern armour are:

Humbrol 117 US Light Green – aka Federal Standard 34102

Humbrol 118 US Tan  – aka Federal Standard 30219

Humbrol 33 Matt Black. – aka Federal Standard 37038

The actual colours are mentioned in a document but the purposes of this exercise I am sticking with FS references and what appears pleasing to my eyes ( ie – the khaki colour being more green than tan as some would have you believe )

For the larger batches I have used matt black enamel from Bunnings  ( I preferred the Masters offering but sadly they are no longer with us ) and had the green & tan custom mixed using Dulux paint also from Bunnings.  I just took in an example of the Humbrol colours painted in a light grey undercoat and had them colour match. When doing a large amount it’s a more economical option to get the paint in 500ml lots BUT, if you’re only painting a small amount it’s a false economy to buy a larger amount as it WILL set in the tin if not used.

Testors enamels do the colours by FS numbers and I use them too when available.

The trick is to make them look real – and sometimes this can be achieved by a light spray of grey over the finished piece from above and with black from below..  I might illustrate this further in a separate article at a later date.

I used custom paints mixed to the same specification for all my 1/32, 1/48 & 1/72 N22 & N24 Nomads – funnily enough, they’re the same colour as the armour … although the green on the AFVs tends to appear more faded over a shorter amount of time.