For what it's worth, I've come very close to matching the skin tone on the 30th style Cobra Trooper mixing Model Master Acryl "Skin Tone Base-Lt," and Vellejo "Beige Red." I actually had an exact match, when it was wet, but I forgot how much the Vellejo darkens, when it dries. It was still close enough for me to paint the neck on what became my red masked trooper.

Unfortunately, you won't be finding those brands at craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Micheal's. You'll need to find a hobby shop, for those. (Hobby Lobby does sell the Model Master acrylics, but they tend to only stock a limited selection.)

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I know. I'm still trying to get the best matches I can before I include them. (Like I did with Steel Brigade Blue and Cobra (Officer) Blue.)
I can officially confirm that Apple Barrel's Light Ivy Green is Steel Brigade Green 1. Those converting Tiger Force Duke torsos for Steel Brigade service can comfortably slap one or two coats of this color on.
I think I'm really close to Steel Brigade Green 2 (kneepads and helmet), but still experimenting. I also want to see if I can mix a slightly creamier version of the Khaki I discovered, but I think the bottle I discovered should work well enough if used with a White or Ivory base coat.


I'm still working on '82/'83... It doesn't help that my only originals are , (v1, with a broken right hand, no less), and (Grand Slam, with more paint wear than I'd prefer). On the other hand, I also have 1.5 versions of and . I used my Officer, an '86 Viper, '85 Tele-Viper and various 2004 Infantry guys to cook up an exact Cobra Blue mix. I fear that I may have to do 5 or 6 Original Joe matches (though my preferred color is the grayish drab from Grand Slam (&/or Scarlett). Cobra Commander 1's blue is on my list because it's really, really close to the one used on '91 Snake-Eyes and the Slaughter's Marauders (who really need their own Joemoticons).

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So far, my current match for Steel Brigade Desert Khaki looks promising: 1 drop of Apple Barrel Khaki + 1 drop of Apple Barrel Ivory. Enough to replace the old formula, but not sure if I can't rubber stamp it with "That's it!". On the upside, the same color (or a really close cousin) is used on Cover Girl's pants . Sonic Fighters Law is nearly the same color, but slightly lighter. Yet both match my paint sample. (Please note that unlike my and , is about 1 month out of a MOSC package.)

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I have some good news and bad news:

• The good news is that after adding a coat of Future Floor Finish, I finally found the paint mix for Steel Brigade Green 2 (the painted kneepads and helmet frame color) . I can confirm that this color's match can be made with 1 drop of Apple Barrel Leaf Green + 1 drop of Apple Barrel Forest Green + 1 drop of Apple Barrel Dark Forest.
  I found out the same way that Slaughter's Marauders' dark green is 1 drop of Apple Barrel Leaf Green + 2 drops of Apple Barrel Forest Green. (Paint sample tested against S.M. Spirit .)
• The bad news is that after coating my paint sample of Apple Barrel's Light Ivy Green, it looked more like a match for Tiger Force Duke's torso and backpack than Steel Brigade's. It's not a very noticeable difference, but it's enough for me to keep looking for a match.

-- Cybertronian .

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I see that AC Moore has a sale on paints this week. I might look through these pages and write down the color names, then check AC Moore for matches.

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After dipping a few more samples in Future Floor Finish, and letting the cure for about 24 hrs., I can confirm that Steel Brigade Khaki/Tan is 1 drop of Apple Barrel's Khaki + 1 drop of Apple Barrel's White ... (or Misty White?)
While Khaki + White looks different from Khaki + Misty White when uncoated, after being coated, both sample looked nearly alike when placed against both my Sonic Fighters Law and a until-last night Mint in "Sealed" Bag Steel Brigade vers 1D . (I use quotes because although the bag was sealed, someone made a small hole and removed the rifle. If it was the Recoil rifle, they did me a favor.)
Cover Girl is a closer match to the Khaki + Ivory sample, as is my vers. 1B, which I've had a little longer. So consider the Khaki + Ivory mix to be a better match to figures with some yellowing.

-- Cybertronian .
(Currently working on a promising new mix for Steel Brigade Green 1, tested against the torso and backpack of my once-sealed vers. 1D.)

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After letting my paint sample, coated w/ F.F.F. cure, I have now found Steel Brigade Green 1, bringing my quest to an end! (except for the actual painting, of course.)

My color match for Steel Brigade vers. 1's torso and backpack is:
* 1 drop of Apple Barrel's Light Ivy Green + 1 drop of Apple Barrel Leaf Green.

Light Ivy Green by itself is best used for Tiger Force Duke .

-- Cybertronian .

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Howdy, y'all.
I know it's been a good while, but I think I've come up with a near match to Red Spot (SpyTroops laser trooper)'s base color. As with Red Spot himself, I've been looking for this color as the base color for the new pixelated real-world ACUs.
Red Spot's yellowish Khaki (a near, if not exact match)

• 1 drop of Apple Barrel Khaki
• 1 drop of Apple Barrel White
• 1 drop of Delta Ceramcoat Key Lime
  If you think this match is too yellow-green to use as a 2000s Afghan/Iraq style camo base, try using a light brown as a primer, such as Khaki, or Sandstone.

-- Cybertronian.

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Great news, great news!!! (Sorry... just got through watching Rosco on The Dukes of Hazzard.)
I'm back at it again, and recently started working on a color match for one of the Original 13 Joe drabs.
To my knowledge, all of the original 13 (except Snake-Eyes, obviously) wore one of 3 or so olive or grayish-green drabs. My favorite is the Dark Grayish color shared by Grand Slam and Rock 'n' Roll. What I'm trying to re-create is the one used by Grunt, Breaker, Flash, Clutch (I think -- mine looked bluer in the late 80s), (and I want to say) Short-Fuze and Hawk. (The other one is the more olive color used by Zap, Stalker -- base color, and Steeler.)

Anyway... on to the mix. My current formula uses:

• 1 Drop of Folk Art Medium Gray (Note: this 2 oz. bottle has a much larger opening. If using a normal sized top, use 2 drops.)
• 2 Drops of Americana Hauser Dark Green (New Apple Barrel color Camouflage is a very close substitute to this color, but has slightly less of a bluish tint. This mix may work better for matching yellowed figures.)

This mix was tested against a 1982 Breaker v1.
While finding this color, I think I learned that only 1 drop of Hauser Dark Green with 1 drop of Medium Gray gave me something close to Grand Slam's grayish drab. I may have to dip a sample in Future Floor Finish to confirm this.
The Hauser Dark, Medium, and Light Greens used by Americana aren't too far away from Joe greens. I wonder if a certain First Sergeant was named after the color, or vice versa?

I'm trying to find one of the original Joe drabs in an attempt to create a ACU/modern pixelated camouflage pattern (on 2003 Red Spot's base color; see above entry). The other color I want to use is the shade of green used on Duke v1's pants and helmet. If someone knows how to create this one, please share.
-- Cybertronian.

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After the F.F.F. finally dried (and under a better light source), I learned that the correct base color match for Grunt v1, Clutch v1, Breaker v1, Flash v1, Short-Fuze v1, and (Col.) Hawk v1 is:

• 1 drop of Folk Art Medium Gray
• 1 drop of Americana Hauser Dark Green (Again, Apple Barrel Camouflage is a really good substitute, and should be used to match parts with minor yellowing.)

Right now I'm working on a match for Duke v1's pants. Although I thought I had some promising results with 1 drop of Folk Art Medium Gray + 1, 2, and 3 drops of Apple Barrel Leaf Green (esp. 2 or 3), all of them proved to be too dark once the paint samples dried. I'm waiting to see if 1 drop of Folk Art Medium Gray + 1 drop of Apple Barrel White + 3 drops of Americana Hauser Dk. Green works. So far it looks like a close match, with slightly less of a yellow tint. (I'm not sure how well kept the Duke I'm using as a color model was, so I may see what happens if I replace White with Ivory. Regardless, I'm pretty confident that this one will hold up after the Future Floor Finish is applied.)

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