Russian Greens (1928’s to Present)

Eight greens that covered Soviet equipment from 1928

Soviet and later Russian military equipment kept a family of green tones of its own throughout the century. The best known of them is the protective green 4BO, under which tanks went into the fighting of the Second World War, and the shade 3B, which completed it on other machines. This assortment gathers eight paints that cover the line in question from the interwar years to the present day.

The core of the assortment is made by the pair Russian Green 4BO and 3B Russian Green; around them stand Dark Green with Black Green and, a step lighter, Light Olive with Yellow Olive; the line is closed by Interior Green for inner surfaces and Ochre. The assortment therefore aims at outer camouflage as well as at interiors, and the ocher part completes the variants with an earthy or desert cast.

Where the shades aim

• The hulls and turrets of tracked equipment of the interwar and the war period
• Postwar vehicles of the Eastern bloc in service to this day
• The inner surfaces of fighting compartments and open hatches
• Variations of shade and transitions on large flat areas

These are water-based acrylic paints that are laid on with a brush as well as an airbrush and are not tied to one scale. The bottle has to be shaken thoroughly before the work, because the pigment settles at the bottom while standing. The shades mix with each other, so from eight bottles you will mix the intermediate steps needed for sun-bleached areas, repair coats or later deposits of dust as well. Anyone building equipment of several epochs will appreciate that the set keeps a shared color character across the whole period.