Just finished major assembly on my M-109 for the Incoming campaign. Decided to go with the A1 version. When was it fielded in Germany? I'm thinking '75-'77. Were they initially OD or did they come in that first cammo woodlands scheme?

Official 4-color camouflage painting started in late 1975. Back then equipment was still fielded in olive green and was camouflage painted at the unit. The combination of camouflage colors depended on the area the unit was located in.

Hoo-ah what Rob said.

And a lot of them were painted with a brush, though if you do it this way and plan to enter a contest, you'd better have a few reference pics. For some reason, most judges think everything built after 1950 was air-brushed ... plenty were done with an airbrush, too, but had a pretty "hard" edge to the camo.

OK looking at the instructions for the kit I don't agree with the color scheme. Seems I remember olive drab a green and a medium/dark brown as the main colors with an ocassional touch of black and a very light almost white color. Kit calls for O.D.and two shades of brown. What are correct colors NATO Green and Brown right?

NATO green and brown are colors that came into use during the mid 80s. Typical US Army colors in the late 70s and early 80s are best shown in the Tamiya M1 Abrams (original), M2 and M3 Bradley (original) and the M151A2 Jeep.

The brown we used was a more red earth tone color than the chocolate brown used in the NATO scheme. All of the four color schemes we used had "squiggles" of sand and "seagulls" of black. Stateside the red earth tone was replaced with a lighter forest green, at least in the northeast.

In the mid 80s the Army did away with the squiggles of sand and made the black seagulls into more of a blotch. This was a fore runner to the NATO 3-color scheme.

Remember, just because a new camouflage pattern is developed doesn't mean we automaticially repaint everything in the new scheme. The equipment is repainted when the vehicle needs to it. The new scheme used then.

That's what I remember Rob. What's a Model master color that 'll match the green.? I'm thinking one of the dark green colors. The brown we used I figure a mix of Miitary brown with just a bit of Burnt Sienna. In Germany, the brown was very slight reddish, not that rusty red that came out later. I'm looking at a real early scheme...basically when we first went to it in 76 and 77 which is when I first got over there.

I usually add some of Testors Rubber to the Model Masters Military Brown to guestimate the actual color (using the Mk 1 eyeball).

I believe the Model Master color I used for the green was called "Green Drab". This was a pretty dark green color.

From my days painting M60A3TTS tanks, we did not use an exact science in mixing paints. Most serious modelers would have had a fit if they saw us mix and match paint types to try to make "close enough" colors.

I'm going to test 3 or 4 greens on the bottom to find best one. Green Drab might be the one though the dark green looks close. It's hard to remember back in those days. I do remember brush painting a bunch of M48 a1's at VMI though

Steve, just found this site today, and can shed some light on your question. My battalion (1/2 FA, 8th ID) received our -A1s during the summer of 1974. I have a photo I took in our motor pool down the gun line when half the tubes in the battalion had been replaced and the rest were the old short tube M-109s.

With respect to pattern painting, we had received the original 7th Army spec the previous year I believe, and using the patterns in the back, used chalk on the OD vehicles, marked off the patterns by hand, numbered the areas 1-4, and painted the appropriate colors by hand with brushes. My dad found an article many years ago which referenced some specifics on the introduction of pattern painting in Germany, and I have it at home. It includes the exact FS number of each of the original colors. I have done an M-109 A1, M-548, the Verlinden ammo trailer, M-577 A1, M-578, M-151 A1 (with doghouse trailer), and an M35 A1 with a scratch built water buffalo, and a 1 1/2 ton cargo trailer, all in that original color scheme. I plan on doing one more vehicle, converting another M35 into the battery mess truck, which like many of that era, had the stoves inside a built up wooden box on the back of the truck, and a folding ladder and platform to serve directly from the fold out on the left side. I used Polly S paints with the reference FS number and they look exactly right. I can send the numbers along if it isn't too late.

Sounds like you were in the Tanker Platoon at White's Farm. I was in Cadet Battery myself.

TC Hathaway '72