The cargo bed of the M925A1, Italeri says it's wood, thanks to Pawel and Major Rob I now know it's steel plates welded together, but what I can't clearly see is, is it also painted NATO-3 tone or what?
The Logsa PDF file says it is (and quit heavy/ a lot too), but the pics don't show clearly...
(pic from SABOT)

If they do have the NATO 3-tone and a lot of it is rusted, does anyone have a tip on how to make this look a bit realistic? (Never tried large pieces of rust)
Thanks,
Jurgen

Yes, it is NATO 3 color scheme. The photos shows black, green and brown with a lot of rust thrown in.

I've used white glue, baking soda (or baby powder) and various shades of orange to brown acrylic paints. I've had good luck with that in the past.

Dont kow what the bed looks like, but I guess if its made with a wood design, youll have to cover it with some plastic card! Give it a wash with burnt sienna and/or a wash with a light coloured pastel to get an effect like in the picture you have shown. I would then very very lightly dry brush it with some metallic paint so it gives a metal look. Then make some random, small patches and scores of burnt umber, ochre and orange and put patches of burnt sienna inside these. Then lightly stipple some black lightly on top of this. I think you can make it pretty rough. Should look the part.

What does that do? make it crumble?


Pastels or oil paint?


Oils?


So would you see the cammo if you are looking at this pic in real life?!

Thanks a lot guys!

Sorry Jurgen ... yes oils. I love weatherig with oils, but pastels will give a nice result also and very flat.
I think what KKeefe is talking about is adding white glue and baby powder to the mix to give it some texture. Alternatively use baking powder! This is great for exhauts and other items that rust gives some texture to to. I would go very fine with the texture here as all roughness would be scraped off as heavy loads are pulled on and off!
Actually it doesnt mater what medium you use ... better to use someting you are comfartable with! Good luck!

I believe that trucks being in active military use by US Army today are never that rusted. Some rust is of course possible, but never that much. It would be repainted long before it could start to look like this. This particular truck on Rob's photos was kept in the motor pool way too long and was too exposed to nature elements and is hardly a representative for a truck in active use. Remember that most of equipment in Rob's motorpool is only used to train maintenance stuff.

Rob, can you confirm what I wrote? What is the story of this particular truck?

Rgds,
Pawel

I've been involved with painting alot of these trucks over the years and I've never seen anyone camo the inside of the bed. Also, the beds that I have dealt with look like a solid steel platform (no "plank-like" design). The beds usually show minor amounts of rust but by no means enough that would possibly rust thru.

The rust on these beds is only surface rust and they are not rusted through. The only thing the trucks are used for is to yank the engines out, drop transmissions, etc. Every once in a while a deploying unit may need assistance with drivers training. We will roll out whichever vehicles they need to train on and give them a quick familiarization in vehicle operation. This is mainly maneuvering with a trailer or updating someone's old license who was previously qualified on an earlier variant.

As a rule, we do not transport materiel in the trucks that we train on. We have set one of the FMTV deuce and a halves aside and ordered canvas and bows for them. That way we will have a tactical truck available to haul supplies or students if needed.

Any way, most of these types of trucks in use would have canvas and the constant movement of supplies in and out of the back would keep the rust build up to a minimum.

Oh okay,
Thanks for the replies guys!

When were you involved in painting these trucks? Because I think that since the NATO three color scheme was introduced, appyling the camo to the inside of the bed is obligatory (at least it is a requirement listed in TB 43-0209). Also factory painted trucks now have the camo applied on the bed floor and inner sides. Today even the canvas covers are camouflaged.

I believe that in older MERDC camo scheme the insides of beds of trucks were indeed not camouflaged.

Rgds,
Pawel

A product called RustAll does a great job of simualting rust. I believe that Squadron Mail Order has it.

The "norm" for an organizational level army or reserve component unit to do while spot painting the interior of a vehicle or the inside of the bed of a truck is to paint it OD green and not worry about the camo pattern because these areas are usually covered and never seen. It also reduces the amount of time spent spot painting. I'm absolutely aware of the CARC painting requirements (I have the TB on my shelf at work and we have to support facilities that have "Paint Workers" employed) but you have to take into account all of the spot painting that goes on after a truck leaves the factory, the average military vehicle operator out there does not take the time to get the TB and pay attention to the applicable camo pattern (yes, I agree that they should but let's be realistic...).

Yes, of course, you are absolutely right. I just think that unless modeler is building a model of one particular vehicle and has a reference that proves such irregularities in this one machine, it is usually better to finish model in a most "standard" way. In this case this means the camouflage pattern in the bed, because all new trucks are painted this way and trucks repainted "by the book" also have the camouflage. I have several photos of the inside of cargo bed of M939 series trucks from various sources in my collection and they all show that the camouflage is applied. So I will stick to this way of painting, even if painting it overall green is not actually completely inaccurate, as you explained.

Rgds,
Pawel