Tamiya Early Sherman 1/35

How many shades of Olive Drab do they make?

stikpusher

How many shades of Olive Drab do they make

I'm guessing that this cuts to the essence of the (unasked) question.

To help a bit, there is a problem, OD is not a very precise thing.

In WWII, there were two distinct ODs, one was for aircraft, the other for armored vehicles.  The paint makers sometimes do not specify which is which.  To the rescue are a number of sites which can help sort this out, use FS (Federal Standard) numeric color referneces to identify one from another.

Mind, armor modelers often are happiest when they brew up colors to their own taste, which allows for shading and counter shading, and sun fading and the like.

Another route is to get a MiG or Vallejo color set suitable to the subject--like "Early US WWII Armor."  Some of those are already thinned for airbrush use, too. 

Your model, your choice.

Actually the two shades were distinctly labeled and used. Vehicles, ground equipments, etc. were painted in Olive Drab, Army Engineers Color No.8. Army Air Corps and Army Air Force aircraft were painted in Dark Olive Drab 41, off of a different color standard chart. Later Dark Olive Drab 41 was eliminated and Shade No.8 was redesignated ANA 613 on the mid war color charts and efforts to standardize colors produced and used. Although OD41 was used until stocks ran out and/or aircraft camouflage paint was discontinued. The AAF preferred the 41 shade to the 8/613 shade.

Vallejo OD is a nice color to start with. Lighten it with yellow and you find the shade you want. 

Tamiyas OD is lighter and more green. I like to use it on more weathered vehicles.

You can always mix your own with black and yellow if neither of those colors suit your needs.