When the USMC M1A1 AIMs were rebuilt, was the base coat NATO tri tone or were they stripped down and painted sand. Looks like they didn't have much sand in Afghanistan, but I was thinking for areas like under the hull and the bustle rack for wear on the sand top coat. Thanks

There was a National Geographic "Ultimate Factories" documentary where they showed the process that they put the M1s through when they come back for rebuild, and one step had the hull being suspended vertically and put into a chamber where the hull was blasted with steel pellets for an hour and a half, coming out completely bare of anything but metal, so I'd expect that they'd be repainted in base sand if it was known that they'd be going to Afghanistan after the rebuild.

Interestingly, there's a picture of a roll of track being hoisted prior to being remounted on the tank, and you can see clearly that the track is already rusty before it's even remounted; it looks a little odd to see an M1 so freshly painted that it hasn't had a chance to acquire any oil leaks or stains, and the tracks are orange with rust.

You can probably find a YouTube video of the segment looking for "M1 tank rebuild Ultimate Factories" on Google.

There is a slideshow of the process linked off of Business Insider; the pictures of the stripped hull being hoisted by a 44-ton crane give an interesting view of just where corrosion and gunge accumulate on the hull.

Thank you!