My take on this is what I've said before--it's an artistic choice, and for anyone who proposes that your or my chipping and scratching is "inaccurate", there will be another person who agrees with your interpretation and even one more who will say "COOL!"

I don't know about the paint situation, and I would wager that a majority of your viewing audience wouldn't know either, and half of those who did wouldn't care anyway if your finished presentation and skill was impressive.

If your Sherman drove on roads it wouldn't be chipped up necessarily'; if it was street fighting and running away from panzerfausts through brick walls and bumping into buildings and other vehicles, well....

Get my point?

Neticho, tovarich. (That’s “forgetaboutit” if you’re Italian). Photos:

48b3ce88cc3f4

Like Doogs said, it is mainly an artistic choice. From a historical standpoint, it is not too likely. Yes, the paint used by the US Army on tanks was very durable. E8s started entering combat in Europe in December '44/January '45. The war was over five month later. While some may have had that hard usage, most would not. Driving thru buildings while it looks good in the movies is not too common in reality. Debris fouls turret traverse, damages gun tubes and optics, and then there are basements to consider.... As far as weathering goes, mud and dust are your friends! Germany (the place where most E8s fought) is full of both during the time they were in combat. 

Now if your talking about Korea... Great paint jobs seen there!

stikpusher, you pretty much confirmed what i suspected.

thanks guys for the replies.  i'll stick to mud and dust and put some very minimal damage on the tank.

cheers

andy

  That Olive paint was baked on in a oven......

                                                   no kidding. 

  I don't really believe a primer coat was used underneath that tough enamel finish either.

I recall examining a Sherman recovery vehicle in Germany. It was a range hard target that had been shot at over the previous years (decades?). While the left side that faced the firing line was pock marked, rusted, burnt and looked like heck, the rear and side away from the firing line looked amazingly good for a 40 year old vehicle (I do not know when it came out of service and became a target, but in 1988 or 89 it looked like it had been there for a long while).

Primer coats were used.  Depending on which part, they called for dipping or spraying at various places in the assembly process.  The primers were oxide red or grey -- again dependent on the subcontractor and the needs of the individual part.

As for 1/35 olive drab or dark green vehicles, my mantra is that most weathering/chipping that would be seen is mostly the rubbing off of dirt and dust on exposed areas.  In the field, everything gets coated with dust/dirt/mud.  In areas of high traffic/contact (like a sherman glacis where crews climb aboard, on the differential cover where guys use as steps, hatch and hatch openings, edges of turrets, etc.) you see DARK exposed areas of paint beneath the grime.  I usually will dry brush with olive drab to indicate this wear pattern.  Chipping?  Almost never for my olive drab subjects.

Guys if I may 'chip in' (sorry) going from Steven Zaloga's excellent book on modeling US armor he states that your typical US tank would be painted:

1). Parts pre-painted at the factory.

2). Painted again when the parts are assembled.

3). Painted again for anti-corrosion when loaded on the ship for the UK.

4). Painted again at the depot in the UK.

5). Painted yet again at the depot in France.

And maybe painted a few more times at well, Zaloga claims you just aren't likely to ever see one chipped down to the bare metal.

This comes every so often and I wrote once:-

I had Five friends who are ex WW11 tankers, Shermans and Churchils. I have shown them models on this forum and whilst none of them are modellers they all say the same.

If they were not "shooting" they were cleaning,mantaining and being inspected by the "RSM"

They took a lot pride in their tanks so did you "YANKS" ( their expression,not mine) as did the the Germans.

Rust was a NO,NO,as they were not in the battle lines for too long any damage ie:- chipps,scratches were quickly repaired.

Dust and dirt yes, rust no,no.

Sadlly of those Five there are now only Three...cheers....Kenny

jdice1980

WW11? Did I miss 3-10?

Actually, you missed WW10 (the final pan-European civil war) and WW11 (the Great Patriotic War). Extra credit if you can identify WW01 through WW09. I’m certain you can name WW13.

IMO, paint "chipping" is a poor description of what most folks recognize as "scuffing"...I don't belive any paint used by any side actually "flaked" off or "chipped"...unfortunately the term is not likely to go away now, but scuffing and dirt transfer from the crew and riders is real and up to you to determine what looks "real"...

I think thw whole "paint chipping" thing started after Desert Storm. Many of our NATO pattern 3 colored tanks received hasty paint jobs either at the unit of origination (like 2nd Armor did in Texas) or in theater once they got off the boat in Saudi Arabia.

The tanks carried a special chemical agent resistant coating (aka CARC paint) and the hastily applied sand paint did not adhere to the CARC paint at all. After a relatively short war, our tanks came back looking like lepers with the sand paint flaking off everywhere and in large chunks.

At model shows back in the states in the early 90s, it was all the rage to show Abrams tanks, Bradleys or M113s with paint chipped down to the NATO scheme. And it was very accurate because the original paint did what it was designed to do; resist external agents from bonding to it. Just in this case the external agent was sand paint and not weaponized chemical agents.

By the mid 90s, the chipped paint look had migrated to other forms of armor modeling. Prior to that in the 80s, the "Verlinden Way" with the heavy burnt umber washes was all the rage. Right now, MiG rusting is the current trend. Unless you're depicting a tank fresh off the assembly line, modelers feel the need to add rust spots at every protruding bolt head, weld seam or hinge.