Hi folks, are there any masks available for MERDEC schemes? I've tried to paint it freehand but I have had a bit of a disaster...

I have never used a mask for MERDC but I have made them for NATO three tone if I wanted it to be really exact. They key is to have a good guide in the instructions or or other source, and enlarge to the exact scale of the kit. I usually make two or three sets. Then you just decide which color you want to be your base color, spray it on, and then mask it with your cut outs. Spray subsequent color(s). MERDC's a little different since I usually free hand the crow's feet (black and sand) but you can easily spray those as well. This is why you need to make a few sets of masks - cut out the crows feet but spray THROUGH the cut out. You just have to make sure you have it positioned exactly where you want it.

Thank you Robert. Much appreciated. Looks like it's create my own then...

This site https://sites.google.com/site/merdccamo/home might help you.

Agree with Robert, for MERDEC base color and major color with AB then free hand the black and sand crows feet. For the 2d color I have always used silly putty to mask the pattern.

HTH
Bret

MERDC mask ?





H.P.

I also do the major colors (green and brown, sand) by airbrush freehand. The black and tan are supposed to represent “tree branches”. I generally do those in freehand with my airbrush in 1/35 scale, but often do them with a brush in 1/72 scale. Masks are ok, and I’ll occasionally use Silly Putty, but, as we painted the real thing in the 70’s we “eyeballed” the diagram in the TMs, and then did as close an interpretation as our imagination let us, so freehand is acceptable in my opinion. Sometimes, we were way off the patterns. And some of those tan and black “branches” were very “artistic”.
VR, Russ

Hello Paul,

There is at least one (1) company that makes MERDC masks for the M109 and the M113. I may be mistaken, but, I believe that they are from J's Work. It looks like they could be modified fairly easily to use for other types of US vehicles.

Respectfully,

Allen

It´s not MERDC but Woodland!

J`s Work homepage.

http://www.jsworkmodel.com/

Hello Russ,

As I recall, the minor 5% colors were intended to mimic shadow effects and depth via the black "crow's feet" and the other color was meant to match the color of the soil in the area of operation.

My experience was similar to yours when it came time to repaint our vehicles.

Respectfully,

Allen

Allen,
I’m not sure what the colors of the branches had to do with the local area, since they were the same in Western Europe or in the US, regardless of where (it could also have been in the desert SW). But now that you mention it, I think I heard folks refer to the minor colors as “crow feet” too. The two colors were a light sand color and black. I did notice in Western Europe, they were often described as “branches” from 2-3 feet long, applied between the major colors of Brown, Tan and Green, and the only colors that changed from winter to summer verdant was the tan and green. When the vehicle was parked in a tree line and viewed from 500-1000 meters, the “branches” tended to help the vehicle blend into the shadow and light patterns cast by the surrounding vegetation. That’s why we referred to them as “branches” when we repainted. For whatever reason, we always seemed to have a shortage of diagrams from the TM, so a troop sized unit might only have one diagram to follow, which got passed around a lot, taped to a maintenance bay wall or pinned to a bulletin board. As a result, over time, most crews just painted over the existing pattern on the vehicle with a spray gun, without the aid of the diagram. this led to interesting variations. The “branches” were usually accomplished with a spray can after the main colors were painted, but we often reverted to some very neat hand painted work if the paint cans became short, and the paint was available In a gallon or quart can. That also resulted in some pretty “creative” work. Or just some pretty sloppy uncreative work too.

I don’t think I ever saw a can of paint thinner in the three years I was in the 11th CAV. We always used MOGAS as thinner, which caused some durability issues in the main colors, whereas the spray can colors were a bit different. In some cases they lasted longer, in others, they wore faster because of a MOGAS thinned undercoat— and we really didn’t follow any viscosity rules either, we just mixed paint in a bucket until it looked to be the right consistency to flow through a paint gun. There was no science to it. if thinner was available, it was used to clean the paint guns. Each troop had its own team which completed the basic colors, the crew usually applied the “branches”. The crew also did the masking. Masking material consisted of a few sheets of taped butcher paper for optics, and a #5 can of grease for the headlights and sight glass (on Sheridan road wheels and rubber tire rims). Whenever I see a neatly painted model of a CAV vehicle, I often think “if only they’d looked that way in real life”.

Paint was often very shabby looking after a few months. That’s why my Squadron Commanders (I went through three of them) repainted every spring and fall. I have some interesting paint stories, since as the interim S4 in the spring of 1979, I was sent literally all over Germany looking for Forest Green Paint (non standard) for LTC Conrad, who wanted his vehicles to be “distinguished” from all others in Germany. That did not go over well with the V Corps IG.
VR, Russ

He need only have taken the Duty train from Helmstedt to Berlin. The standard color at the time and almost all of the eighties for all Berlin Brigade vehicles was Forest Green.

Ha ha, I couldn’t get a 5 ton truck on the Duty Train, or I would have! In reality, if you were on Border Duty, you had to have a special pass to take the train. But we were looking for a little more paint than I could have gotten on the train. It took a 5ton load to repaint the Squadron. My driver and I did get to see a fair part of Germany though, we went to Scweinfurt, Wurzburg, Freiburg, Frankfurt, Rhein Main, Nuremberg, Baumholder, back to Darmstadt, Kitzingen, then down to Ramstein, with a few stops in between. it took 3 days of travel to scarf up a 5ton full, a lot of authorization paperwork and some creative “horse trading”. Sometimes, I’d get as few as 5 1 gallon cans, other times I’d get 20 or so. So it took a while. We were not authorized that much Forest Green paint in the squadron, of the shade my Colonel desired (almost a light green color) Strangely enough, I got 1/3 of the load from the Air Force at Ramstein, our last stop. They just wanted to unload it. But it cost us a 1/4 ton transmission and a case of the Squadron’s beer ration. Most folks wanted the lateral transfer paperwork (It gave monetary requisition credits), but the Air Force guys didn’t even bother. Should have gone there first.

The funny thing is it almost got me in real trouble with LTC Conrad. At the end of the trip, I showed up at the Squadron HQ with the requisition paperwork. As I walked into the Colonels office carrying a sheave of papers to be signed by him, the adjutant nonchalantly told me the Colonel was out, just leave the paperwork in his “in” box. I walked into the office, and the adjutant asked “Russ, where have you been these last few days, I haven’t seen you around?”. To which I answered over my shoulder “I’ve been to hell and gone all over Germany looking for Colonel Conrad’s damn paint!!”. As I dropped the paperwork in the in box I turned around just in time to see LTC Conrad coming through the door to his office. At which point he told me in a rather stern tone “your job is to do whatever I damned well order, and as far as I’m concerned you can go get another truckload if I want it”. I sheepishly said “yes sir”, and he told me to get out. Thank goodness he was satisfied with one truck load. But I did check my six to be sure I had both cheeks as I left. The Cav was both a fun and dangerous place to be at the same time. But in 1980, I’d had enough, and transferred to Chemical Branch, where I had more interesting adventures.
VR, Russ