1/72 and 1/76. I'm looking for some info on painting and colours. What colour should the engine bay of a US tank be? What color should the interior of the same tank be? What color should the interior of a UK/Commonwealth tank be?
In particular, I'm going to be going with the old Nitto
1/76 M-36 Jackson. The pictures I've found with Google show the turret would be OD just like the exterior, but would the rest of the interior be an off- white? What about the engine bay (and it's got a LOT of potential for detail there!)?
" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote in news:6926525e-9f21-465f- snipped-for-privacy@y18g2000prn.googlegroups.com:
Most of the interiors are a dirty white. I used to do some work with reenacters who had M5A1 Stuarts. They tried to be as accurate as possible. Engine bays were, IIRC, white also, though dirty. You can't see much through the grating over the decks anyway and it made it a bit easier to see. The entire inside was done in white, quite a bit of it could be seen with the hatches open but between the seats and all the gear, commander and gunner a lot of it is obscured and really anything darker would have made it impossible to see.
I've heard that Tamiya OD is best for WWII and I use it but I've also heard they changed it. I try not to agonize over it to much. It needs to be lightened some for the smaller scales. I believe OD got darker in the 50s but when it started I don't know, Korea Era vehicles may still have looked WWII.
Cookie will probably pop in and give a more definitve ruling. You could do what I did buy some OD of every brand you can find (I tend to stick to locally available paints so as not have a meltdown if I run out in the middle of a project). Right now that could include PolyScale, Floquil, Tamiya, Model Master enamel and acrylic, Humbrol. Some of these have premixed faded variants available. Make your own paint chips and judge for yourself what you want for a starting point. Most bottled OD is actually USAAF OD which differed from ground forces OD.
Pollyscale and MM list some colors by thier ANA # which is technically more accurate when refering to period colors as ANA was the military standard as opposed to FS today. Pollyscale has an OD listed with it's ANA 6xx number whereas MM lists theirs by FS suggesting it matches a later standard, 50s or
60s.
Local art stores have oil and water based paints in tubes in a variety of colors. OD is black and yellow, carbon black pigment added to cadmium yellow base. I think the instructions were add and stir until it looks green. There were standards but there was a war on. Factories dispersed throughout the country bought or made it in large batches. Modern hardware stires have much more sophisticated, computerized color matching equipment. Back then it was the Mark 1 eyeball comparing it to paint chip, if they had one. And were they comparing it in the can, wet as applied, dried just now, dried a week, dried six months after being in the field?
You could try mixing your own adding in browns, greys, whites, browns, etc to find a suitable mix for your eyes.
Gray Ghost wrote: : : Most of the interiors are a dirty white. I used to do some work with : reenacters who had M5A1 Stuarts. They tried to be as accurate as possible. : Engine bays were, IIRC, white also, though dirty. : And if it is radial powered, radials are notorious for leaking oil. You don't run detergent oil in a radial (or rotary), as the burned oil helps seal the gaps. Detergent oil will clean up the carbon, and now you really do have a problem. :-) : : I've heard that Tamiya OD is best for WWII and I use it but I've also heard : they changed it. : I happen to be partial to Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color Olive Drab (2), #38. Once you weather the base coat, however, it really doesn't matter too much what you start with. Most any OD or Pullman Green will work. Clearly starting with Lime Green is probably not going to work too well. : : Back then it was : the Mark 1 eyeball comparing it to paint chip, if they had one. And were they : comparing it in the can, wet as applied, dried just now, dried a week, dried : six months after being in the field? : Dana Bell posted on this forum once upon a time that he was going through OD samples at Wright-Patterson. All of the samples were marked "Approved with noted corrections". Do you really think the "noted corrections" ever got applied? :-)
Certainly for a military vehicle deployed, the "correct" color is pointless after a week in the field. As you note, there was a war on.
I'm not worried too much (not at all, really) about which OD to use. I've got three different rattle cans and have 1/4 oz. touch ups. After all of the weathering it doesn't matter too much anyway. :)
It's the interiors that are bugging the heck outta me! But I've now got my answer! Dirty/off white is what I'd suspected. I'm going to have the grates open on the Jackson and do some detail to the engine. They've got a LOT of room and a fairly decent shape to start with in there. There's also a lot of detail to the driver's area and inside the turret.
I've just gotten done painting some tissue paper to use as the canvas for various kits. Have it in six shades! Ha ha ha!
BTW, if you want an easy build with tons of detail in 1/72 go ahead and pickup the Academy 2.5 tonne truck or their Dodge ambulance kit. Both are well detailed but still have PLENTY of po- tential in their tiny scale.
ODs and various shades of camo greens are almost impossible to get right with standard hobby paints. I have found Dollar Store acrylic craft paints a very cheap and effective way to mix my own eyeball shades of ODs and greens. All you need is a bottle of "mud" brown and another of deep green. At a buck for 118 ml (4 US fl oz),, that's lots, I had the courage to experiment and, once I got the hang of it, was able to do US ODs to Russian armor greens. I was even able to do the Brit armor bronze(?) green too. Not surprisingly the most often color paint used is Black and White. The black is excellent for painting rubber tires as it is neither glossy nor matte. These craft acrylic paints have a slight sheen that is exactly right for most applications. That white should be excellent for your tank interiors. Craft acrylics shrink into a smooth tight skin when they dry. Crude brush strokes disappear. Dry time is 10 minutes. Use your imagination for mixing other colors to paint dioramas. Craft acrylics are fully compatible with water based hobby acrylics.
On May 14, 9:08=EF=BF=BDam, " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote= :
As noted the exposed parts (e.g. inside the turret) are OD and the interior parts begin life as white. Most of the fixed bits (firewalls, guards, racks, fixed mounts) are white but attached ones are either black or OD (doesn't seem to be a consistent rule). Radios are white and engines vary -- air cooled ones would be whatever the crankcase is (usually a grey) and natural metal for the cylinder heads. Water cooled (like the M36) would be the base color of the Ford GAA -- I've seen them in many colors from black to apple green but no clue what the WWII color would be (I am pretty sure black wins).
Seats are black leatherette if padded; radios and signal gear is OD.
Don't forget, real world dulls, dings things. I've seen some museum tanks freshly painted that never looked like the real thing. Sit out in the sun for months, paints dull, get a nice matte finish. Think brand new levis then what they look like a year or so later. And tanks don't get repainted as much as airplanes do. Though I've seen some weathering taken to a real extreme. NCOs and officers don't expect spit and polish, but trashed is not acceptable. At least outside of a peacetime garrison.
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