Raw umber, dark brown, black/brown            All would work

Test a few hidden spots and see what you think..........

Best of luck with it

I also use Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown

Cheers Leo

Agreed,,    red brown, or even a hull red will also work.....       test and go with what you think looks best

May I pose a more basic question to you?  Where do you intend to do this chipping on a model?  US painted equipment was EXTREMELY tough.  Often you see dust rubbed off of a vehicle surface -- showing up as dark in b/w photos.  My advice is to really really study wartime color photos before you start down the chip-fever slippery slope.

He's right folks.

Indeed he is...............

Dirt, yes:

Hit, yes: 

Chipped? I don’t think so.

So I'm best not spoiling what i've already done

http://youtu.be/ywcyeF50h4Q

IMHO, a bit more dirt/mud might be in order, but NO chipping!  I think the current chipping craze has gone way beyond reality--even on German vehicles.

BTW-  That's a VERY nice build!  Congrats!

Thanks, best not do any chiping then

RickC5

IMHO, a bit more dirt/mud might be in order, but NO chipping!  I think the current chipping craze has gone way beyond reality--even on German vehicles.

Bigtime... an artisitic fad... not "realism" as headlined here and elsewhere. At least not on operational vehicles.

Well as Steven Zaloga suggested if you want to do some chipping on an American tank cover her with a nice coat of dust and then chip off the areas with the most crew traffic to show the OD underneath. I've been thinking about doing this for awhile but never seem to get around to it.

I, too, have been bothered by the chipping craze.  Way overdone, not so much in models I've seen here in club meeting and contests, but in magazines.  Rust, chipping, enough already.  Unless you build a model that has been outdoors for 50 years on display or underwater.  I keep looking at pics of wartime vehicles and I see lots of mud and muck and other types of weathering, but not this overdone chipping craze.  I'm not even sure I find it attractive anymore.  I'm afraid an example of a model that I didn't care for was the PzIkfwII in 1/24 on the cover of the current MMiR.  Also in the same issue, the  mortorbikes' chipping was a bit much.  Just my opinion.  Now back to the current thread already in progress.

Doug

Ah, I found this post in time!  Have only done one piece of armor, and next up is the simple Tamiya M41kit.  I was getting prepared for what I would have to do to accomplish some chipping.  Those color photos from WWII are terrific.  

Not trying to hijack the thread, just a thanks to original poster and all the great help around here.

stikpusher

RickC5:

IMHO, a bit more dirt/mud might be in order, but NO chipping!  I think the current chipping craze has gone way beyond reality--even on German vehicles.

 

Bigtime... an artisitic fad... not "realism" as headlined here and elsewhere. At least not on operational vehicles.

Concurr with the "fad" analysis... Dunno why it happens, but it does... Like the "faded winter camo" craze on German armor... 

That said, some chipping on German vehicles is warranted on occasion.. Provided it's because a tank or other AFV has been repainted in the field, with less than optimum surface-prep on the crew's part, and that goes a long way in establishing diorama time-frames...

I did some chipping here to show that this Marder was repainted in the field, after the order to change from Panzer Grey to Dark Yellow was put in place, but only in foot-traffic-areas, and in some other areas where some moving parts would likely "bang" together, using the rubber cement masking method...