(ARM) Cold War Olive Drab?

Question

I'm ready to put paint to my Italeri M47 and wondered about the colors, post-WWII. I'm tempted to use the A/N-whatever Model Master offers but wondered if things got more standarized by the early '50's. And no, I won't be using 'battleship grey', a la Colonel Hessler in "Battle of the Bulge" - I've another kit set aside for just that purpose. ;-)

Frank Kranick

rwsmithjr · Accepted Answer

You've picked a time when clors were starting to shift into their first iteration of the FS-595 series but weren't there yet. It was common for unit commanders to have some gloss black mixed into the OD for tanks because the darker and glossier paint looked better on parade grounds.

William H. Shuey · Answer

Aaaahhh Yes! Anybody got a tape of "Panzer Leid"?Great music to build models by!					Bill Shuey

Old Timer · Answer

German Army Chorus Marches, vol. 1. I recently saw a copy on DVD at thelocal Media Play.

rwsmithjr · Answer

You sure that wasn't the Horst Wessel song?

Jim · Answer

What?  You don't have it memorized?  Bill, you're slipping.  Granted, I have no idea what in the hell they are saying, but it did make unloading trucks at a previous job go a touch faster.

me-me · Answer

"Jim"  wrote innews:WsZ4f.9429$     If you provide me with the lyrics, I could translate it for you,Panzer Lied, Horst Wessel Lied, Russland Lied you name'em.Cheers, Dennis

AMPSOne · Answer

The lyrics are really pretty lame -- sounds more like the motto of the US Post Office than a stirring battle song.

As for the OD question, FS34087 is fairly close, but many of the vehicles were gloss (e.g. FS14087) so that may be a bit of a problem.

As one of my friends who was in "F Troop" (Company F, 40th Armored, Berlin Brigade) once noted it takes seven cans of Johnsons' J-Wax to do an M60A1.

Cookie Sewell

Al Superczynski · Answer

Heh.  At least we didn't paint white sidewalls on our tanks'tires...     ;-p

Mad-Modeller · Answer

I used to know a guy who built models and he lost at a model contest because his equipment was high gloss. He was building examples of the stuff they used in Berlin and the judges thought the pieces were 'wrong'. Good to have confirmation on that since the same guy borrowed my airbrush 20 years ago and left town with it. ;]

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Gerald Owens · Answer

Steve Zaloga wrote in an article for Military Modelling that Tamiya'sOlive Drab acrylic is a spot on match for the US Army's color cardissued to WW2 paint manufacturers for No. 9 OD (he suggests you lightenit a bit with German Dark Yellow for scale effect). I know, I know,you're talking Cold War era, but Zaloga further reported that the colorstandard for Olive Drab went virtually unchanged from World War Onethrough its discontinuation in 1974--the paint codes changed, but thepaint didn't.However, starting in the early postwar period, semi-gloss paintssupplanted the flat enamels, and these "read" darker to the eye. And asanother poster noted, unit commanders in the 1950's liked the look ofOD mixed with black, so the tanks were often very dark indeed, apractice that apparently remained commonplace until the four-colorMERDC schemes were introduced in 1974 (the color of an M60A1 Iphotographed at Fort Carson, Colorado in 1975 was so dark, it lookedlike Luftwaffe Schwarzgrun).AN613 and No....

Francis X. Kranick, Jr. · Answer

Gentlemen -	Many thanks for your info.  I'll get mixing straightaway...Frank Kranick

(ARM) Cold War Olive Drab?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?