This is a common topic, specifically, what color metallic would be exposed over paint worn surfaces? Would it be more of a bright metallic, say like a aluminum? Or more like a dark metallic like gunmetal? I've dry brushed an aluminum color and must say it does look 'right'. But is it accurate? Even a steel/dark metallic might take a bright sheen if it is a worn surface, yes?

This is a pretty popular subject these days and there are more answers to this question than there are modelers. Here is my interpetation of this effect. IMHO scratchtes that go right down to the bare metal are a dark black/brown type colour. For a scratch to be silver it would have to be buffed to a high sheen. Anyone that took metal shop in highschool should remember (if it hasn't been too long ) that bare steel has a blackish/grey look to it. Bare steel exposed to the elements will rust almost immediatly so scratches should be a combination of Gunmetal and brown's in colour. But if you want to reproduce an area that gets contstant use or fresh scrapes I use graphite with a Burnt Umber wash. Just rub the graphite on with your finger or straight off of a pencil tip. HTH
Cheers,
Bryan

I think you should be very sparse with WW2 US armor. The paint adhesion qualities of American produced material was very, very good. I'm not saying that scratches didn't happen but I wouldn't do much paint wear around hatches and such. What I aim to do is hand and oil prints out of the dust (look at the rear hatch of an unwashed minivan).

Good articles can be found here:

http://www.missing-lynx.com/rw/rw.htm

Note the one about scratched and chipped paint and note panel #4. In my opinion, this would be the most common sort of "scratches" seen on an OD vehicle.

Hope this helped
RC

Very informative write up Roy,
Thanks for posting the link.