ATOM Acrylic Paint Set for Brushes and Airbrushes in 20-ml bottles – 12 colors. This set is specially designed to provide you with the basic colors used for painting MERDC patterns.
This set contains twelve high-quality acrylic paints, specially formulated for painting U.S. MERDC camouflage patterns. Developed in the 1970s, the MERDC (Mobile Equipment Research and Development Center) introduced a standardized and highly adaptable camouflage system. It replaced the general Olive Drab scheme and was used from 1977 until the mid-1980s, when it was replaced by the NATO three-color scheme. This allowed crews to change just one or two colors to adapt the vehicle to changing conditions, rather than having to repaint it entirely. The system used four-color patterns selected from twelve Federal Standard shades, resulting in eight schemes optimized for specific climatic conditions. In each pattern, two colors covered approximately 45% of the surface each, while the remaining two covered approximately 5% each (usually Sand and Black): Winter Green: forest green, field gray, sand, and black Summer Green: forest green, light green, sand, and black Tropical: forest green, dark green, light green, and black Snow, temperate open climate: white, gray, sand, and black Snow, temperate climate with trees: forest green, white, sand, and black Gray desert: sand, field gray, earth yellow, and black Red desert: earth-red, earth-yellow, sand, and black Arctic white: white Patterns could be applied with a spray gun or brush, with soft or hard edges. In practice, units often deviated from the official patterns, adapting the designs to local conditions and operational needs. MERDC camouflage was applied to nearly all U.S. Army vehicles of that period, including the M60 and some early M1 Abrams tanks, the M113 APC, Bradley prototypes, the M109 self-propelled howitzer, M151 trucks, M561 Gama Goat, M548 cargo transporters, and M88 recovery vehicles, among many others. MERDC remains one of the most famous and versatile camouflage systems of the Cold War era. This set makes it easy to choose the right colors for your models, helping you work faster and achieve the best results. ATOM paints feature a water-based formula that offers all the benefits of lacquer and is optimized for maximum performance when applied with either a brush or an airbrush. The combination of this paint’s characteristics—including self-leveling properties, fast drying time, and exceptional coverage—makes it unique on the market. In addition, ATOM colors are extremely durable, allowing you to use acrylic paints, varnishes, enamels, or more aggressive products—such as decal removers—once the paint has dried. Each color comes in a new 20-ml clear bottle with a convenient vertical pipette cap that can be opened and closed with one hand. This paint is odorless and eco-friendly. It can be applied directly from the bottle or diluted with ATOM-20500/20510/20520 solvent and cleaner, or with ATOM-20501/20511/20521 solvent and cleaner with a retarder. Kit contents: ATOM-20007 ATOM COLOR Desert Sand (FS27043) ATOM-20011 ATOM COLOR Sand Grey (FS30277) ATOM-20025 ATOM COLOR Khaki Green (FS24552) ATOM-20052 ATOM COLOR Earth Brown (FS30117) ATOM-20178 ATOM WASHABLE Dust ATOM-20069 ATOM COLOR Olive Drab (FS34087) ATOM-20070 ATOM COLOR Sinai Grey (FS34151) ATOM-20076 ATOM COLOR IJA Nakajima Green (FS34102) ATOM-20077 ATOM COLOR Dark Green RLM81 (FS34079) ATOM-20163 ATOM COLOR Matt Black (FS37038) ATOM-20000 ATOM COLOR Matt White (FS37925) ATOM-20177 ATOM WASHABLE White
