us army vehicles berlin

[298tyr]

Anyone any idea of a good match for the colour used by the US Army's Berlin Brigade - prior to the introduction of camoflage in the early 80's that is ?

 

I've seen it described as Olive Drab, Green, etc etc but never seen in properly matched. I do know they often "polished" the vehicles fro parades which may have affected the normal appearance of the colour.

 

Was it Olive Drab, Olive Green or what ?

 

Thanks

[JamesR]

I saw an article on the web not too long ago that discussed this. If I can find the link, I'll post it but what it said was that olive drab was the official color but units would mix the olive with black. Apparently this was a battalion level thing, so different units had different levels of darkness. Also, they painted them gloss with the idea that a dark gloss color would make them harder to see at night (reminds me of the gloss black P-61s used for night fighting).

 

I am actually in the midst of building a M-47 that I want to do in that dark OD green. I'm planning to mix a jar of olive drab with a jar of black. I also planning to use a satin coat, as I want to avoid that wet look.

[Old Tanker]

I don't know precisely what was done to the Berlin Brigade vehicles.

The vernacular for the color was OD , olive drab.

Possibly they fresh painted them alot. I've read where the vehicles used in Presley's G.I. Blues were newly repainted just for the movie.

As to make them shine normally a wash rack cleaning left a film over the vehicle . To spruce them up a rag dipped in solvent and then wrung out would be used to basically Armor All the vehicle using elbow grease. I do know that my CO's jeep was shined to be as glossy as any new car. Probably used Turtle Wax or whatever commercial polishing product.

[Jacques]

I built a M88 for a guy who served in Germany. He said they took the standard Olive Drab and darkened it with black (As previously stated) until it matched a color card the Motor Pool guys had. This had been dictated from the CO who actually took the time to get the "colors correct" to some unknown specification...

 

Anyhow, the CO ALSO had standing orders that all vehicles coming out of the washrack be given a coat of diesel fuel to shine them up so they looked good. Not a specific solvent, just Diesel. The guy I built the kit for said that the crew would get a serious headache from this, both during the application and until the fumes "burnt off".

 

There are many theories as to why this was done, from the CO was a "Spit and Polish" anal retentive type, to some people believing it would interfier with the IR system on the Russkies tanks. The Diesel "stealth shield"? Given that bored soldiers in a high stress environment (Berlin) will believe lots of strange things, makes the idea that a dark shiny tank can elude IR seem plausable as a Urabn Tanker Myth.

 

As for how to do it, well, Pollyscale Black Green might be a good start for a base coat and then add some Model Master US Army Marines Desert Tan (or whatever it is called), but just a touch at a time to lighten it up for the panel highlights. This will help to retain the "blackish" color. Just adding or using OD to begin with will leave too much brown in the mixture, I think this is because of the nature of model paints that you cannot just follow the way they did it in real life. Or at least I had trouble until I changed my color choices.

 

For the "shine", thin future with ammonia (windshield washer fluid works well) at a 50/50 ratio and then MIST it on lightly with a airbrush. This means the future whould be almost dry when it hits. It you just spray it on, it will collect in the crevases leaving the main areas flat and look like you have water in the cracks. 3-4 coats like this will produce a nearly perfect scale "diesel" shine. Do not add weathering to this, do it before this coat, and rmember that dirt would faltten the vehicle out fast so showing it on the tank would not be correct when in "clean" mode.

 

Sheesh, hope that helps. (What a windbag I am!)

[Corinthian]

The guy I built the kit for said that the crew would get a serious headache from this, both during the application and until the fumes "burnt off".

 

[Homer Simpson]Mmmm... diesel fumes.... mmmmm ... [/Homer Simpson]

Edited September 27, 2007 by TomasCTT

[binder001]

I remember back in the 60's my father brought home a can of OD enamel from the National Guard shops. He painted tools and some outdoor racks, etc with it. It was a VERY dark OD, not anything like the colors modelers use for WW2 US stuff. The closest commercial paint that I can suggest would be Pullman Green from the model railroad shelves.

[binder001]

By the way, the armor component of the Berlin Brigade, Co. F, 40th Armor had a modified TO&E - 22 M60A1s instead of 17 as in a regular company.