Tamiya 1/48 Sherman (1 Viewer)

[Alexdakar]

I built and primed a 1/48 scale Sherman tank but not sure what to use as the base color. Is it olive drab because it seems to dark to me.

 

[binder001]

Yes, OD is dark, but it IS the correct base color! All M4 series tanks left the factory in Olive Drab. "Olive Drab" has covered a wide range of colors in the US Army over the years, but for modelers the generally agreed closest paint match is Tamiya XF62 for WW2 tanks and vehicles.

Obviously a 1/48th tank painted in straight OD will look like a little drab bullfrog because the color is dark and unrelieved. That's where the weathering, fading, and shading come into play. There's all kinds of ways to do this. There are a lot of model books and websites out there with more info than we can present here.

Hope you enjoy your Sherman, the Tamiya kit is kind of a fun little beast.

Gary

 

[desk11desk12]

Yes, OD is dark, but it IS the correct base color! All M4 series tanks left the factory in Olive Drab. "Olive Drab" has covered a wide range of colors in the US Army over the years, but for modelers the generally agreed closest paint match is Tamiya XF62 for WW2 tanks and vehicles.

Obviously a 1/48th tank painted in straight OD will look like a little drab bullfrog because the color is dark and unrelieved. That's where the weathering, fading, and shading come into play. There's all kinds of ways to do this. There are a lot of model books and websites out there with more info than we can present here.

Hope you enjoy your Sherman, the Tamiya kit is kind of a fun little beast.

Gary

Gary,

You seemed to know what your doing because I don't when it comes to this stuff. I'm looking at repainting some US half tracks and Sherman’s for WWII Pacific theaters. Do you know what base color I can use for these vehicles?


Thanks,

Carlos

 

[binder001]

The base color is good old OLive Drab. Some units added camouflage in the field, but the vehicles all left the factory in OD. Not very imaginative, but 1) the Army or contractor didn't know where in the world a vehicle might end up, 2) it simplified contracts - "just paint 'em OD!", 3) OD works well as a base for camouflage, and 4) OD does fade a bit and the WW2 paint tended to hold dust and dirt so the tank blended in eventually.

Gary

 

[desk11desk12]

The base color is good old OLive Drab. Some units added camouflage in the field, but the vehicles all left the factory in OD. Not very imaginative, but 1) the Army or contractor didn't know where in the world a vehicle might end up, 2) it simplified contracts - "just paint 'em OD!", 3) OD works well as a base for camouflage, and 4) OD does fade a bit and the WW2 paint tended to hold dust and dirt so the tank blended in eventually.

Gary

Really Gary,

pictures I've seen seemed to have them in darker green or some kind of grey/ dark blue color. Admittedly, most of the WWII color pictures were poor than.

So you say the only difference in color was dust and camo?

Thanks,

Carlos

 

[binder001]

pictures I've seen seemed to have them in darker green or some kind of grey/ dark blue color. Admittedly, most of the WWII color pictures were poor than.

So you say the only difference in color was dust and camo?

Yes sir. Some vehicles may have been painted with other colors in the field (the American soldier will find a way to get things done, even if the "right" color isn't in stock), but the factory base color was OD. You know military NCOs - "If it doesn't move, paint it".

The most common single camouflage color was black over the OD. That was official policy for the First US Army in Europe and also appeared on some tanks in the Pacific.

One major exception - the LVT ("Amtrac"). They left the factory in a Navy blue gray color until mid-1944, when the base color was to be changed to Olive Drab. Some Navy support vehicles were "Navy Gray", but these were not often seen on front lines but in ports and bases.

WW2 color wasn't perfect. As a slide photographer I can state that Kodak Ektachrome slide and movie film tends to emphasize the blues and greens. Kodachrome has (had) better color reproduction but was less common. Old photos lose color accuracy as the dyes age, even when properly stored.

Gary

 

[desk11desk12]

Great observations and advice. I truly appreciated Gary

Carlos

 

[Alexdakar]

Yeah thanks Gary for the info. I painted it OD with a few drops of white mixed in. It still looks very dark but now I'll add the decals and highlights then weathering.

 

[Alexdakar]

I finished this little sucker...

 

[Alexdakar]

other side...

 

[Alexdakar]

This is for Brad in case he was wondering how it matches up to K&C.

 

[desk11desk12]

This is for Brad in case he was wondering how it matches up to K&C.

LOL, good one Alex. So much for another Sherman Tank variant to go with his KC's. Time to ask Andy for another Sherman version.

Carlos

 

[boot51]

This is for Brad in case he was wondering how it matches up to K&C.

Nice paint job, Alex. I'm guessing the tankers who were in those Shermans were thinking their tanks were about that small when they encountered their first panther or tiger.

 

[jazzeum]

Thanks Alex. I guess it goes well if that trooper was Andre the Giant

 

[binder001]

Very nice job! These ARE fun little kits aren't they? Your work looks very nice, keep up the efforts.

Gary