Re: Another Camoflage Question

>How much do cammo schemes vary between different vehicles in the same
>force?  And by same force, I mean tanks that are deployed side-by-side,
not
>just in the same army.  Would in be unheard of to have some tanks in
cammo,
>and some in just a base coat?

How about this:  those clever scientists of the 22nd century have
developed
mission adaptive colour coatings for armoured vehicles.  They adapt to
the
local requirements as needed - active camoflage.  There is no reason
that 2
vehicles of the same type in the same unit can't look different, if
assuming this type of coating.	You wouldn't want to have more than a
couple of different schemes in your force, or it will look shoddy as a
group of models - no unity of theme - but no reason not to have camo on
the
big ones and plain on the others.

The US Airforce is presently experimenting with coloured film coatings
for
aircraft that are applied like a big peel-and-stick decal.  The idea
here
is that they might be a) a lot cheaper than repainting the aircraft with
expensive paint every few years, b) a lot lighter than the paint,
thereby
increasing useful load, and c) able to have interesting additive
coatings
for radar absorbtion, etc.  Maybe your tanks use this, and the camo
pattern
is simply big sheets of stick on film that has been applied to some, but
not all, of the vehicles.

>From a modelling perspective, it is difficult to paint a good camo
scheme
on small models that looks even remotely realistic.  From what I've seen
most people try to do this by painting simply a smaller version of their
"big model" schemes, using the same paints.  This will generally obscure
detail on a small model, unless you are very carful OR are using very
light
colours for your paint scheme.	The contrast between dark greens and
browns, for example, should become a lot less obvious at a great
distance,
and if you want a more "realistic" looking scheme on small models, paint
them with colours that are much lighter than you would on a big model,
and
with less contrast.  If the paint scheme is very subtle, it will look
better on small models.  And as someone else suggested, if you're
painting
with a light scheme, you can darken it with an inkwash, and pick out the
details.

Adrian Johnson
ajohnson@idirect.com

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