70s-80s 3 Color Camouflage Discussion

[Scott Bentley]

Hey Fellas,

I dread to bring up the topic of paint color again, but this one has been on my mind for some time now. Steve H (TOW M151A2 owner) and I have spent hours yacking on the phone emailing pictures back and forth trying to nail this down.

So, if I understand correctly Canadian 3 Color Cam on "B" vehicles from approx 1975 until the mono-tone 383 CARC Green in the late 80s consists of:

503-321 Flat Olive Drab
503-319 Field Green
501-310 Flat Black



The CFTO for Cam Paint shows the 503-321 as essentially the base coat, with the 503-319 and 501-310 making the pattern. There are also plenty of real world examples of the 503-321 and 503-319 being inverted as a base coat for the cam pattern.

Here is my quandry. I have borrowed some user uploaded pics of various vehicles from this Forum and "Google" to set the plot:

Which Color Green is 503-319 Field Green?
This one:

MLVW as it sits today:


M151A2:


McEwan M38A1:


Clives M38A1:


Or this one:

Iltis:


Cougar:


Photo induced color variations aside, am I the only one that notices that the 503-319 Field Green is not the same over the years of the 3 Color Cam Pattern? Did it change at some point or did it actually fade that much over the years?

The Field Green on the MLVW I posted on top is what all of the remaining 3 Color Cam Vehicles have for Field Green here in Gagetown, yet there is clearly a darker version on other vehicles.

When people are trying to color match paint for the 3 Color Cam Pattern, which shade are they trying to replicate? Top or Bottom?

Thoughts???