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AFV Painting & Weathering
Answers to questions about the right paint scheme or tips for the right effect.
Hosted by Darren Baker, Matthew Toms
Korean War US Olive Drab
long_tom
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Illinois, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 - 12:18 PM UTC
I've seen some darker olive drab M46 Patton tanks, though that may be just the photography. I have a summer 1950 Pershing in line, but am not sure whether it should be the darker or the lighter green.
Kevlar06
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Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 - 12:47 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I've seen some darker olive drab M46 Patton tanks, though that may be just the photography. I have a summer 1950 Pershing in line, but am not sure whether it should be the darker or the lighter green.


Army or USMC? there was a difference in color.
VR, Russ
long_tom
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Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 - 02:38 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I've seen some darker olive drab M46 Patton tanks, though that may be just the photography. I have a summer 1950 Pershing in line, but am not sure whether it should be the darker or the lighter green.


Army or USMC? there was a difference in color.
VR, Russ

Not on the very first batch of tanks, all of which had come from Army stocks.
Vodnik
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Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 - 06:20 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I've seen some darker olive drab M46 Patton tanks, though that may be just the photography. I have a summer 1950 Pershing in line, but am not sure whether it should be the darker or the lighter green.

Darker semi-gloss OD was officially introduced when the war was coming to an end (If I remember correctly in 1952), so most likely too late to be applied on any tanks before the end of hostilities. So photos of M46s in Korea in dark OD are almost certainly post war. I believe that during the conflict they were still in flat WW2 OD.
GeraldOwens
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Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 - 08:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I've seen some darker olive drab M46 Patton tanks, though that may be just the photography. I have a summer 1950 Pershing in line, but am not sure whether it should be the darker or the lighter green.

Semigloss Olive Drab was introduced immediately after World War Two, and can be seen on many vehicles repainted during the postwar occupation of Germany. It used the same pigments as the standard No. 9 Flat Olive Drab, but the semigloss finish made it "read" darker. The color was in widespread use during the Korean War, and all the tanks that were hurriedly refurbished in workshops in Japan were finished in semigloss. The color would of course dull down as soon as it received a coat of dust.
Vodnik
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Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 - 09:31 PM UTC
Okay, you are right that semi-gloss finished was introduced in 1945 without changing the actual color, and the finish itself made the paint look darker. But in 1950s (I can't find the exact date now...) there was a new semi-gloss OD introduced that was much darker than the one used previously. That darker color remained in use until 1970s, when it was replaced by MERDC. It was definitely much more dark than the earlier WW2/Korea OD.
I have a nice photo from 1950s of a line of trucks with some of them in earlier and some in the newer color and the difference is very stark, but I'm not at home now, so I cannot post it at this moment...

That really dark OD (known best from the use on vehicles in Vietnam) was introduced definitely after the Korean war, but it is seen in some photos of US Armor, including M46s, in Korea later in 1950s.
Beast
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Posted: Friday, January 31, 2020 - 04:55 AM UTC
The semi-gloss for the Korean War era was OD#2430 and was used from 1950 until 1956 when it was replaced with the darker OD#24087 that was standard up to 1974 when the Merdc camo came out.
long_tom
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Posted: Saturday, February 01, 2020 - 04:19 AM UTC
Thanks everyone, had to be sure.
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