Guys,

I was wondering if these tanks were repainted once converted to the 17 pounders, and if so, were they just straight Olive Drab?

Thanks
Brad

Hi Brad,

I don't have my references to hand at the moment but as I understand it, any vehicle that was converted in the UK was repainted either fully or partially. Probably with whatever was to hand at the time. An OD paint was available that was supposed to be a match for the original US colour but it was said to be noticeably greener.

When I built my Academy Achilles when it was first issued, I painted mine Humbrol 116 green and the turret interior and floor plates OD 155. I based it on a couple of b&w photos I found at the time showing a very noticeable difference in shade. The OD being much lighter than the exterior I took to be a dark green.
I'd go with UK olive drab as your best bet for a 44 or 45 dated vehicle.

Hope this helps.

Stephen

Do you mean SCC 2 color and then SCC 15?

http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/Starmer%20camo.htm

Heavily modified tanks in the US were repainted with the local standard colour at the time. For the M10 17 pdrs, this would have been SCC15,Olive Drab. When new this was virtually indistinguishable form US OD. When it faded it faded to a slightly greener shade, but, and this is important, very few of these tanks would have had time, during the remaining 10 months of the war to suffer much, if any, actual fading. The paint, even crappy wartime paint, simply did not and would not fade that quickly over the winter. So any M10 17 pdr in service in the summer and fall would have been very fresh OD. Those in service in the spring of 45 might have been beaten up a bit, but still, not much in the way of fading.

All this to say, using a good, fresh SCC15 mix is the best way to go and if you must fade it, then be very subtle.

Now, this doesn't speak to modulation effects, for those who like to go that way, or lightening for scale effect, but don't change the OD colour to look particularly greener. It just didn't happen.

Paul

Thanks Guys. I am good to go.

Brad

Brad, I'm not sure what paint you're planning on using but I've just had a look at my fresh bottle of Mig Acrylic SCC15 and it's REALLY green! About as far from OD as it's possible to get. Not sure how Mig came up with that shade.

Paul is right about the fading, it's not likely on a vehicle only a few months in service. Dust, dirt and weathering will help tone it down nicely.

Nikos, thanks for that link it's really useful.

Hi Stephen, I am a Tamiya man Thanks for the heads up on the MIG paint though.

Brad

Hi Brad,
glad top help. You can't really go wrong with Tamiya OD. I'm only a recent convert to acrylic after years of enamel and I'm finding Mig and Vallejo to be the most user friendly but still getting my head around the various colours.

I wish I could find those photo's showing the difference between exterior and interior shades. Unfortunately they were saved on floppy disks at the time. I remember building it while at University when the Academy version was first released, so that would have been 2003 or 04?
I recently found a load of old disks so I have hopes they might be on one of them. If I find them I'll share them.

Despite being called OD, SCC15 was always noticeably green. I've seen and held an original copy of BS987C and I have a colour copy (hence not fully reliable) of it.

I used the Hataka SCC15 on my Tortoise and to my eye it looks about right.

One "recipe" for SCC15 using Tamiya paints is this:
5 parts XF61
2 parts XF62
2 parts XF3

Another is:
5 parts XF-81
1 part XF-58
1 part XF-71

Hi Peter, I am going to try the second combination that you posted, as Mike Starmer says it's a new updated mix.

Thanks
Brad