Vehicle colours · Allies

Allied vehicle colours: US, British and Soviet

Allied vehicles were mostly a single base colour, so getting that colour (and its date) right matters more than any pattern.

United States: olive drab

US Army vehicles were painted olive drab. The standard colour was Olive Drab No. 22, also called No. 9 Olive Drab by the Corps of Engineers; references treat them as the same colour.

On the table: olive drab looks very different depending on light and weathering. A brown-leaning green, highlighted with a little sand or bone colour (not white), keeps it from going grey.

Britain and the Commonwealth: SCC 2 brown, then SCC 15 olive drab

• SCC No. 2 (Service Colour Brown) became the standard base colour in 1942.
• SCC No. 15 Olive Drab replaced it from 12 April 1944. Units only got the new paint once brown stocks ran out, so many vehicles in the Normandy landings were still brown.
• SCC 15 vehicles were painted overall with no disruptive pattern. On brown vehicles, the dark disruptive colour was to be SCC 14 Blue-Black.

On the table: for a Canadian or British force in Normandy, a mix of brown and olive drab vehicles is accurate and looks great. SCC 15 is not quite US olive drab, so don't use the same pot for both if you want the difference to show.

Soviet Union: 4BO protective green

Soviet protective green 4BO became the standard vehicle colour in 1938 and stayed so through the war. When fresh it was a yellowish olive green, and older or weathered vehicles looked darker.

On the table: keep Soviet tanks fairly plain. Hand-painted turret numbers and slogans look best slightly irregular. Winter whitewash is common for 1941-45 winter scenarios.

Models to practise on

Good models to practise on, in stock at Warlord Minis (the shop that runs this site) as of October 25, 2026:

M4A3E8 Sherman Easy EightUS olive drab, late war. $47.99 CADView at Warlord Minis →Crusader TankBritish desert or SCC 2 practice. $56.99 CADView at Warlord Minis →Universal CarrierCommonwealth brown or SCC 15. $33.99 CADView at Warlord Minis →T34/85 Medium TankSoviet 4BO green. $48.52 CADView at Warlord Minis →