perforated steel plating

The PSP I have seen (post WW ll and Korea) had a very thick flat black primer paint sprayed on them. When the paint would wear away the metal underneath was a very dark pitted type of corrosion, not flakey, but with a slight shine to it. I never saw steel or silver colored metal under the paint. The color that comes the closest to the corrosion would be dark gun metal. The PSP would also be bent and distorted due to the weight of aircraft parked on it.

The base was usually hard ground or a clay base. When wet, the clay would made the PSP so slippery an aircraft could actually slide off like it was on ice. Sand and gravel was seldom used as it would be blown everywhere from the jet exhaust or prop wash.

Thanks for the info Berny, unfortuantely i cant bend or distort the plating i have since it is one molded base plate but the color info will definitely work for me, i believe the primer you are referring too might have been some kind of no skid coating, i have seen actual psp laid on the ground when i was at Edwards( our smoking shack was built on it) but it wasnt coated that is why i was wondering about the color . Thanks agin for the info .

Rig

If the black was an anti-skid paint it had the texture worn off. The ones I saw had a smooth flat black finish to it, except where it had worn away. When it was new, it could have been anti-skid paint.