Howdy Everyone,

I'm in the middle of building a Tamiya Sherman M4. It's my first build in several years so it's taking awhile. Anyway after seeing all of the latest weathering stuff I'm interested in doing some paint chipping/rusting. For that I figure I'll need to know the primer color for American Vehicles circa 1943. If I had to guess it would be ... primer gray. Probably a no brainer but you never can tell about these things. So what do you all suggest? Thanks in advance.

I've not heard of gray being the primer. I've seen very worn items having the standard dark red primer. I'm sure restorers can tell you more accurately.

This caveat however. I don't know how "artistic" versus "accurate" you are trying to do your model but personally, I've not seen the "paint chipping" fad look well with US Olive Drab models.

The American paint just held very well. What is the most visually convincing weathering for OD tanks is when dust has been worn off of raised surfaces or when oils from hand prints leave a darker mark relative to the overall dust layer.

I was just looking over older issues of "Allied Axis" and the big prints of b/w photos show that the most visually prominent weathering feature is this dust/no dust issue.

The dk brown chipping fad doesn't look accurate w/US equipment, IMHO. Don't do it!

MIke, I do beleive US equipment was painted in red oxide primer as well. I have a shot of a Sherman that is close by (Danville Va) and during restoration i spied red oxide underneath. In addition, I think there is a shot of 3 M4A3E8s in Korea that show some primer on the sides.

I am sure there are others out there that know fer sure.

Chris

softskins were primer grey while armor was red Oxide. But as has been mentioned OD paint held real well on US vehicles and a chip ot two is fine but it is easy to overdo it.

Cheers
Cliff

Mike
The paint on Sherman tanks is very good, after application
it was dried in a infra-red drieing tunnel.
There is a picture showing a light tunnel with over 2200 lamps used at the Chester,Pa.,Ordnance depot claimin the drieing time as short as 4 minutes, drieing from the inside out.
In my view , no chipping occured.
As for rust, Armour plate does not rust during normal use,
only when left in a corrosive envirement (seawater) it will rust after many years.
For instance, on a hill above Arromance a few hundered meters from the sea in Normandy- France is located a M4A2 , it stood there for decennia before they painted it again,
It had a slightly brown patina with near chrome welds, but no rust.
Rust appears on mild steel only like welded-on fittings or as used in softskin vehicles. and only after a long periode,
which not often happened, most Sherman tank had a short
lifespan as had most German tanks for that matter.

Regards
Ron Perry
[email protected]

Hey Guys,

I'm glad I asked and I'm glad I joined this forum. I've been getting reams of useful info since I've been here and it has only been a couple of months.

Cheers and thanks alot