VVS Color Research

    During the period leading up to the submission of my book manuscript, it was extremely difficult to keep our color research document up-to-date. Indeed, the book manuscript contains research that is quite literally up to the very last minute. It will supercede, in its entirety, the current VVS Color Doc upon publication.
    Obviously, it is in the interests of my Publisher that we not print the full updated document on this site. After all, this is seen to be a significant reason for someone to decide to purchase the book in future. However, it serves no interest to publish on our web site completely outdated or erroneous information.
    Therefore, from now on we will endeavor to keep this color table up-to-date; but, without comment. The accompanying text will be discarded. Those who would like to obtain the old text will want to download the superceded document here, in its entirety. We do advise caution, however, that the old document has been replaced by newer research. On the other hand, most of the information contained therein is still valid, and overall the color theses of the old VVS Color Doc are still completely useful and valuable.

Without further explanation, here is the updated Color Table.

Popular Paint Brand Equivalents

VVS Color Table

Finish                         FS Color Range
AII Blue FS(1,2,3)5466 or slightly less brilliant; old and worn looks more like (3)5550 [the amount of gloss sheen decreasing rapidly with exposure for all AII lacquers]
AII Green FS(1,2,3)4258 when new; darkens when older and worn to FS(3)4151
Army 4B0 Green FS(3)4257 [or slightly lighter] when new; darkens when older and worn to FS(3)4095
Factory Green (Zavod 1) FS(2)4058
AII Dark Green FS(1,2,3)4062 - 4066
AII Black FS(1,2,3)7038
AII Brown FS(1,2,3)0111 when new; 60-year-old examples look like FS(3)0206
AII Light Brown FS(1,2,3)0260 when new; darkens when older and worn to FS(3)0480
AII Aluminum FS(1)7178
A-14/A-14F Steel FS(3)7200
Wood Aerolak FS(2)6320 - 6176
Metal Use Primer (Industrial) "bright" FS(3)4664 - (3)5622 [there is no good match in the FS system for this color; if one added white and grey to FS34350 you might be able to mix the correct shade]
Metal Primer (Aerolak) ALG-5 FS(3)4670 [there is no good match in the FS system for this color]
AMT-7 Blue FS(2)5550
A-28m Blue FS(3)5250
AMT-4 Green FS(2)4151
A-24m Green FS(3)4098 - 4102
AMT-6 Black FS(2)7038
A-26m Black FS(3)7038
AMT-1 Light Brown FS(2)6306 -(3)0324
A-21m Brown FS(3)6350 - 4201
AMT-11 Grey-Blue FS(2)6375 - 6300
A-33m Grey-Blue FS(3)6463
AMT-12 Dark Grey FS(2)6187 - 6081
A-32m Dark Grey FS(3)6251
Tractor Green (Zavods 153, 18) FS(2)4666
AE-9 Lacquer FS(2)5630
Medium Grey (AE-10?) FS(2,3)6493

Old VVS Color Doc