Olive drab has so many different shades and variations.Weathering,washes,and pigments change your base color,you say you want to use Tamiya paints,why not just use their color call outs from the instructions?

I loved this kit as a kid, looks good, but didn't the UK use a more bronze green than olive drab?

Rob Gronovius

I loved this kit as a kid, looks good, but didn't the UK use a more bronze green than olive drab?

 

Bronze green was an early war and post war color for the Brits. In 1944, they adopted their own shade of OD to better match with the Lend Lease equipment coming from the US. At least that is what I've read over the past few years. The British shade was more greenish in tone. If it was US made and rebuilt such as the Firefly or Achilles, or British made in 1944/1945, it would be in the SCC 15 Olive Drab. Standard Sherman's and such stayed in their US Olive Drab color.

Oh yes, sorry I forgot to add this link, but it has the mixes for British WWII AFV colors using Tamiya paints. 

https://replikator.club/2021/02/09/tamiya-paint-database-uk-wwii-afv-colours/

Thanks for the comments re colours it certainly got me thinking this evening and thanks very much Stikpusher for that link! I didn't have exactly what was suggested for the SCC15 Olive Drab, two out of the three paints required, but made a mix that looked pretty close and on it went. I'll take a picture tomorrow and see if I'm still as pleased with it in the morning 

I'm glad that works for your needs. I'm looking forward to seeing more updates on your build.

Yeah, but wasn't the Bren carrier an early war vehicle?

Rob Gronovius

Yeah, but wasn't the Bren carrier an early war vehicle?

 

They fought pretty much the whole war in the West. From the Battle of France with the BEF to VE Day at the Elbe. And everywhere in between where commonwealth armored forces served. So yes, a carrier with the BEF in 1940 Frace/Belgium would be in the green scheme of that era.

As a base coat I'm pretty happy with the colour in the cold light of day  I got there by mixing equal parts XF-58 Olive Green and XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) with a little splash of XF-71 CockP Green.

I think next steps for me will be head off to the art shop to buy a suitable oil paint to make up a nice wash, slap that on and then a touch of dry brushing and see how things stand. After that I need to bite the bullet and make a start on the figures which in all honesty scares me! I am absolutely useless at figure painting!

I have no friggin' clue if that's accurate to not but I love how it looks. Nice work!

And figures, it's just a matter of fiddling with them till you get something you like... or you give up. The Tamiya figures are cheap and common enough that they're great to practice on. Look around YouTube, there's a boatload of videos on doing figures. A lot will be gaming figures but the same techniques apply.

Looks good,with greens,panzer yellow or gray,accuracy up to a point is good,but with so many paint batches,wear and tear,weathering,field application,it's all subjective.If it looks good to your eye,your okay.

Thanks for the kind words Gamera and Tojo, I'm definitely enjoying the process it's great fun trying to work out what to do to progress it. I've got a gloss coat and some decals on now so in a good place for some washes tomorrow. Ive got some thoughts on how I might tackle the figures and I've a few old tank crew lying around that I can practice on as well! I'll post up some more pics tomorrow.

Your own version of SCC 15 looks perfectly fine. After weathering it won't look like this anymore anyways. So like Tony said, don't get too wrapped up in a precise shade. Have fun with the figures. You won't get better on painting figures unless you keep painting more of them. 

Thanks Stikpusher, that's very true I just need to give it a go and get some practice in painting those figures. I've had a look round youtube and I'm going to give that zenithal highlights method a try and then glazes over the top. Neither are things I've ever tried or heard of before so I'm really interested to see the outcome!

Here's a couple pics with the gloss and decals just on, little bumpy in the pics from last night but have settled down overnight and feel I'm in a place to get washes and drybrushing and see how it looks. Slow and steady for me!! 

Coming along very nicely there JT. Are you going to post your figure work here on this thread as well?

Looking really good!

Thanks both! I will definitely include the figure updates in this thread as well, I glued them earlier during a little break from work so I'm slowly moving towards getting some paint on them  

I think it's looking great. Did they do any changes to the kit from the original to this newer Euroean version?

It is little known but 40 Canadian UC's were offloaded from a freighter in Manila Harbor originally  bound for Hong Kong, and used by the US Army in the Philippines.  Along with CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) trucks to be used by the USA.

Rob Gronovius

I think it's looking great. Did they do any changes to the kit from the original to this newer Euroean version?

 

Thanks Rob  I've just gone down the rabbit hole on Scalemates and I think this version of the kit had a parts update from the previous and then there's another later version available as well. In the box I think the main option is the different figure sets for either Europe or N Africa.. I think. What I did discover is there is a whole world of Universal Carrier kits of different types and tons of additional parts which I never realised! I'm definitely going to do another one in the future!!

richs26

It is little known but 40 Canadian UC's were offloaded from a freighter in Manila Harbor originally  bound for Hong Kong, and used by the US Army in the Philippines.  Along with CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) trucks to be used by the USA.

 

Thats interesting Rich, I know the Universal Carrier got out there far and wide. There's a great short Tank Chats video about them on YouTube, apparently they weren't rated by the Americans or Russians but the British and Canadians loved them from what I can recall. My Grandad who was a paratrooper during WWII (2 Para) never talked about the war except once to tell me about Bren guns and Bren carriers and how highly he had rated them, strange really!

I don't do much armor at all but watching this thread and your build of this nice little kit has my interest piqued.  I'll have to add this to my wish list - sure looks like a fun build.  Yours is looking really nice!

I did the original version way back in the 1980s.

I've seen subsequent Tamiya versions like the European version and the Force Recon version. I've always been interested in early WW2 armor, before the various countries knew what a tank or APC should be.

We went with halftracks, Germans did too, Brits went with universal carriers, Canadians did the converted Kangaroo thing, etc.

I like it, well done. Has a nice etalic look

keavdog

I don't do much armor at all but watching this thread and your build of this nice little kit has my interest piqued.  I'll have to add this to my wish list - sure looks like a fun build.  Yours is looking really nice!

 

Thank you keavdog  definitely having fun with it and a great model for me to find my way back. Here's a few of the latest pictures with some pigment added, it's not great so i'm thinking of ways to take the edge off a little and work it in 

Looks good! The mud looks good all goophy and sticky! 

Thanks Gamera, the mud dried nicely in the end, maybe a little dusting of some pigments next to take edge off a little could be on the cards.

I've made a start on the figures, shame the highlight undercoat is so speckled but as first go I'm alright with it, i'll be doing some glazes over the top this evening and post a pic of how it went. Bought a ton of Vallejo paints to try out 

No issues, the undercoat doesn't have to be perfect just something to give the paint some 'tooth' to grip on to. They're coming along fine.