Newbie Ship Detail Question

Once again, you peoplpe have exceeded my expectations of friendshihp and helpfulness. I thank you.

It depends on the ship...but I can assure you that I've NEVER seen gun barrels painted silver on any warship...there is a dull silver on the base section of large caliber weapons that have blast bags...these vary in length (the silver) because of the nature of the blast bags to move on the barrels. Early on, the blast bags would be extended, showing little or no silver. After extended firing, the bags would work their way down towards the breech, exposing the unpainted (silver) portion of the barrel.

For USN, WW2 or modern, the predominate camouflage color was carried onto the barrels. In the case of large caliber weapons, there may be two camouflage colors, an upper and lower color. The lower 1/3rd of the barrel is countershaded in white 5-U.

Here's an example:



In all other instances, the ship's camo color is carried over onto the barrels. In the case of smaller, secondary weapons, there's may or may not be countershading. That was left to the discretion of the ship's captain. In the case of 40mm barrels, the outer portion of the barrel is painted, the lower half at the recoil springs is generally black.









Hope these answer your questions.

Jeff

Welcome to ship modeling!

please visit us on www.modelwarships.com we would love to have you there!

look for online references to help you decide what color things should be. why dont you tell us which ship you are doing ? sometimes the portion of the barrel might be natural metal, while the rest of the barrel will be painted

Generally speaking, gun barrels are painted the same color as the surrounding superstructure. There are examples of heavy guns that are one color on top and another (usually lighter) on the bottom, in conjunction with the ship's camoflage scheme. Sometimes such barrels were painted a darker shade than their turrets. (If memory serves, that scheme was fairly common in the British and German navies during WWI.) And I believe I've seen some WWII-vintage photos in which the barrels of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft mounts (standard U.S. weapons in the latter part of the war) were unpainted, dull brass. But if you paint the barrels the same color as the nearby superstructure you'll usually be safe.

Good luck. It's a great hobby.