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from this random wiki:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ork

"Whilst an Ork will belong to a tribe, they also belong to a Clan.....

An Ork tribe usually contains Orks from many different clans, so when tribes fight each other Orks will often find themselves in combat with foes from the same clan. This is considered normal, as an individual Ork's allegiance is to his Warboss rather than his clan.

six large and truly significant clans:

Bad Moons: The richest Ork clan, due to their teef growing quicker. The Bad Moons are the closest thing Orks have to a merchant class.
Blood Axes: Distrusted by other clans, the Blood Axes make use of "un-orky" tactics such as camouflage and even battle plans.
Deathskulls: Famed looters and scavengers.
Evil Sunz: Epitomising the Orkish love of vehicles that go fast and make a lot of noise, the Evil Sunz have a high proportion of Speed Freeks.
Goffs: Close combat specialists.
Snakebites: Staunch traditionalists, who distrust many forms of technology. "




In light of this, would it be fluff-friendly to have an army (tribe) that has its units painted according to different clan schemes?

Whenever i see "professional" ork army photoes they all seem to be painted according to the same Clan scheme regardless of the unit rules wise.

what's the general approach to Ork painting?

I think a prolific video bat rep ork player "CranberryMuffinMan" maybe is notorious for green tide from different clans. I think he may have 30 ork mobs from each clan IIRC.

Otherwise... yes. But who knows with the new codex...

You answered it yourself!

Mixed-clan armies are fully supported by the fluff. And most ork players prefer it that way, as it brings fun to the daunting task of painting the usually huge number of models in an ork horde. Besides, it helps telling squads from each other, something useful when two of your mobs are charging a single foe.

It's like doing a crusader force of SM, each squad from a different chapter, go for it.

Fluff is what you make of it. The background is contradictory at places, and you as the individual gamer have just as much a right to ignore things as the next novel author.

Personally, I find this chart to be interesting in terms of "Ork infrastructure" and the use of tribal colours - but as I said, you may feel free to disregard such details depending on your personal preferences.

I play freebooters a warboss(kaptin) leading a horde o ork pirates
All clans are welcome!

Different clan schemes within an army is perfectly justifiable, fluff-wise. I wouldn't go so far as to say that most Ork players do things that way, but Agent_Tremolo is spot on, otherwise. I've been painting units as different clans, first to add some variety to the task and second to have them visually distinct, both for convenience on the tabletop (should I ever play them) and novelty in the display cabinet.

thank you for all the responses

good to hear i've got creative options