Just started my 1/16th mrap, my question is what primer color to use for the mrap?

These vehicles are delivered in factory-applied sand. What evidence do you have that the paint wears or chips, exposing the primer?

KL

I know that it comes from the factory in sand but what color of primer do they use?

My point was that the paint is factory-applied; the tan color is not field camouflage. Therefore, the paint would be very durable and the weathering fad showing a chipped topcoat with exposed primer is unrealistic . . . Unless you have some evidence to the contrary.

KL

ok thanks for the info.

So the factory applied color is actually colored primer? And IF that was chipped off, you would eventually get rusted bare metal?

I did not say that, or anything close. What I said was:

". . . The weathering fad showing a chipped topcoat with exposed primer is unrealistic."

KL

So the factory applied paint/primer is chip-proof? Sorry to belabor this, but just curious.

The current, factory applied CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint is a very durable, two-part epoxy coating that does not chip badly. It tends to fade after time, but doesn't extremely chip or wear through. Also, modern US vehicles are regularly repainted so they do not show hardly any chipping. CARC is a b!tch to apply and is very caustic/carcinogenic, requiring the painter to be in basically a HAZMAT suit when painting, and in a controlled environment paint booth. It is pretty nasty stuff, but practically lasts for ever.

Not to drag this out any further, but when I worked at Ft. Sill, I worked on MLRS, HMMWV, HEMMT, PLS, M109 Paladin, 5-ton.. Wreckers, fuel trucks, just to name a few. They all had huge chips in the CARC paint. The problem with CARC paint is, when the vehicle is hit or dented even slightly, the CARC paint is so thick that it does take the shape of the dent like normal paint would. So it retains its shape before the dent and eventually cracks and chips off. Sometimes even right then. The chips I recall were sometimes even the size of your hand. So yes, lots of chipping everywhere. Unless its brand new, they will absolutely have chipping.

To add to the base coat color, there wasn't a base coat color under these chips. It was bare metal and rusty if the area was steel and bare aluminum on the HMMWVs.

EDIT: I never worked on any MRAPs because they were not fieled when I worked at Ft. Sill. So I cannot attest to any chipping on those, but I would imagine they would have some.

Now that's a pretty definitive answer, and to the point. So...the possibility of large chips and rusty metal.

Sure . . . If you consider that CARC has been in use for about 30 years and the formulation has been changed at least twice to improve its performance before MRAPs were built . . . Sure . . . if you are talking about actual dents and damage to the body work rather than the oh so chic rust spots in the middle of smooth flat panels and on every edge and corner on a vehicle that is supposed to be six months old . . . Sure.

What would be great would be if the model's weathering matched photographs of MRAPs in the type of service that it was supposed to represent.

Or to put it another way, look at 100 photos of MRAPS in service. How many of them have evident paint chipping and exposed metal?

KL

In other words, "". . . The weathering fad showing a chipped topcoat with exposed primer is unrealistic."

KL

I found 1, but that was where something had been blown off by an IED. In most pictures it's impossible to tell.

Here's one hit by an IED. Can't see much chipping.

Exactly. Photobucket was down when I was online so I did not put up the only picture I found showing damage to the paint, and it's not that bad considering.

I found the second one on a search. The paint looks better than some cars in the parking lot at work. The Soldier that posted this survived.

Thanks to all that answered the question that was asked, and enlightened the rest of us.