Dragon 1/35 M46 Completed 12/23, Pg. 6

No doubt the USMC lagged one step behind.

Back to the Army, here's pop 1952.

During KW, 1950-53, the leather was generally no longer a red russet leather, but was a dark stained brown.  This spanned a lot of leather items, boots, holsters, bino cases and the like.

Now, from fickle memory, Army adopted black low quarters with the "pickle suit."  But the field gear stayed brown until during VN.  Which then started in a bunch of over-dying of existing leather, with mixed results.

SF & Ranger units started using black boots in the 60s, which may have started a trend.

The Sea Services had been using black for some times (other than avaiation personnel).

It can all be a muddle.

Thanks Mike! I’m happy to hear that you like what you see.

It's been a while since I've poked around on this forum and I'm not dissapointed, Carlos.

Fantastic work thus far! Bring on the dirt!

Thank you Gino. The figure is by DEF resins. I picked it up from Sprue Brothers. You are so right about trying to find tank crew figures from that era.... extremely hard to find. It’s all WWII or late Cold War thru current for US tankers. I never even thought of a head swap, and yes if this guy is posed in a hatch, depending upon which type of helmet is on the head, he’d be great for up to the 80s.

Both the tank and the TC look awesome. 

I may have missed it, but where did you get the TC figure from?  He looks great.  As you know, it is hard to find figures from that period, esp. in cold weather gear.  With a head change, he could work for most of the Cold War (up through the late '70s - early '80s) as well.

Carlos & Harold

I stand corrected, sirs! Thanks for the link. It's very helpful.

Yup, the boots were brown in Korea

stikpusher

Here is a rundown on US Army uniform transition during the 50s

 

https://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_clothing_1950s.php

 

Harold

At the beginning of the 1950s, the World War II double-buckle boot, revised in 1947, was still issued for field and work duty. By 1953, the Boots, Service, Combat, Russet M1948 (introduced in 1948) replaced the WW II boot. The new combat boot was 10 1/2 inches high with rubber sole, polished grain leather and cap toes. In 1958, the boot color was changed to black and remaining stocks of russet boots were dyed to match.

Here is a rundown on US Army uniform transition during the 50s

https://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_clothing_1950s.php

M1GarandFan

CapnMac82, you and several other Army vets would know better than I, but I always thought the Army went to black leather from brown prior to Korea. About the same time they created the DoD and made the air force a separate service in '48. Certainly correct me if I'm wrong. I guess I've been under a mistaken impression for the last 55 years.

 

https://www.ramstein.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/303979/why-so-blue-history-of-air-force-service-uniform/

I believe the U.S. Army went through a similar uniform transition from 1950 to 1951 because I found colored pictures of combat troops in Korea with brown boots and black boots. The problem here is the original photographs were black & white and color was added many years later.

Harold

Yesterday I got the bumper codes on. Most photos of 6th Tank Battalion M46s during the Tiger phase show bumper codes. The tanks in the Battalion were numbered sequentially and the turret number on the kit decals is 1. So I went with HQ-1 out of my spares bin. The unit codes were from a VERY old Micro Scale sheet I had. Thank goodness for their decal film...

and I did find a photo of a 6th Tank Battalion M46 with a star on the infantry phone box on the back of the hull. An OD US Tank just isn’t right without a white star somewhere...

Let the weathering begin!

M1GarandFan

CapnMac82, you and several other Army vets would know better than I, but I always thought the Army went to black leather from brown prior to Korea. About the same time they created the DoD and made the air force a separate service in '48. Certainly correct me if I'm wrong. I guess I've been under a mistaken impression for the last 55 years.

 

After Korea. When the service uniform changed from OD to Army Green in the  late 50’s the boots and dress shoes were changed from brown to black. Elvis was drafted shortly after changeover. The new Specialist ranks were introduced around that time as well.

CapnMac82, you and several other Army vets would know better than I, but I always thought the Army went to black leather from brown prior to Korea. About the same time they created the DoD and made the air force a separate service in '48. Certainly correct me if I'm wrong. I guess I've been under a mistaken impression for the last 55 years.

Harold and Capn, many thanks! The base colors are the easy part, the fun of washes and dry brush ahead. But this figure is so beautifully sculpted.

Harold, the hull MG barrel will be added soon. I did not want it in the way and potentially being broken off for the paint and decal work on the glacis. 

Capn, it’s a bit warmer here AZ at the moment, but pretty dry, so it feels good. And yeah, looking at him bundled up does bring back frigid winter memories. I painted the pistol belt with a color from the Vallejo Panzer Aces line, Canvas. It has just the right look for the old faded olive canvas cotton web gear. I really hope that  can get some work brass look on the buckle and eyelets. Gonna be a challenge...

Wow, that turned out outstanding--track and TC both.

You really captured the pile cap, too--looks like the one I have, only not so old

That blet matches the 1952 one I have (other than mine is worn enough to have all the eyelets a bronzy sort of color from wear.

It's 88º her at 2100 here in Arlington, Texas and that figure makes me feel the cold.

Bravo

Great work Carols... The uniform is perfect, and the tank face is just like you said it should be 'eating the tools'. One question, where is the machine gun barrel?

Harold

So I did the touch ups on the mouth. Not quite as elegant as the decal, but close to what you see in many photos.

And then I finished up the base colors on the TC figure. I really like the sculpting on this guy. The arms are just tacked in place for now.

More to come in the next few days...

Thanks Capn. I collected uniforms of that era, plus I have a bit left of my fathers old stuff, who was a draftee at that time. The olive green on the HBT fatigues was quite different from that of his sateen fatigues. And I have a Model 1943 and M1951 field jacket, with their slightly different colors. I used a very dark brown on the boots here and will highlight them with a lighter brown before the weathering. I repainted the wool scarf into a better shade and I’ll post it here shortly.

stikpusher

Yes, that’s the M1950 or M1943 field jacket and field pants. Those items were olive green cotton and if not identical, were very close in shade

From (potentially fickle) memory those were OG 96 per QMC, which to my eyeball is identical to the DoD OG 107 shade.

There were some AG-44 items in theater in the chaos of the back and forth over three years of the conflict.  I've never found a good out-of-the-bottle fro AG44, but it faded to a bunch of different hues in actual use.

I've seen those wool scarves in as many colors as you can find in a jar of olives--browner, greener, schwartzgrun, what have you.  So, there's a lot of leeway in depicting them.

US Army would not go to black leather until '67, but a dark brown polish was sued in the 50's to give a very "Hershey's" sort of color.  (And plenty of guys over-polished in black, too, especially on holsters--so they want "leather" hilghlighting.)

This build just gets better and better. 

Thank you Harold. Yes, that’s the M1950 or M1943 field jacket and field pants. Those items were olive green cotton and if not identical, were very close in shade used on the 50’s & 60’s era sateen cotton fatigues. In this particular case I  used Hu 102 Army Green for the jacket and Hu 86 Light Olive for the pants. 

stikpusher

Harold, Brandon, John, and John, thank you. The mouth decal was the biggest challenge since the tracks... but far less so.

In between the touch up work on the mouth decal, I also started painting the TC figure. Base colors on now using Vallejo for the flesh and Humbrol Enamels for the uniform....plus some other acrylics on the boots and gloves.

 

 

I’m going to redo the wool neck scarf because I don’t like how the mixed color turned out... too green... not olive brown like the wool of that era.

 

Harold

Harold, Brandon, John, and John, thank you. The mouth decal was the biggest challenge since the tracks... but far less so.

In between the touch up work on the mouth decal, I also started painting the TC figure. Base colors on now using Vallejo for the flesh and Humbrol Enamels for the uniform....plus some other acrylics on the boots and gloves.

I’m going to redo the wool neck scarf because I don’t like how the mixed color turned out... too green... not olive brown like the wool of that era.

Looks bad a$$ Carlos!  Very nice.

Looks fierce here too, Carlos.

That looks awesome. It is a super BA looking tank. And I can see that the mouth would be a huge PITA. Well done.

BK

It looks great Carlos. I didn't realize the mouth was a decal, I'll bet that was fun?

Harold

Thanks Bish. The mouth was a one piece “C” shaped decal open on the drivers side. I sliced a couple notches in it on the bottom for the tow hooks, but that did no work quite as intended.

Thats looking really nice Carlos, great job adding those decals. Was the mouth one decal or was it split.

Thanks guys! The painting is the fun part of this one!

I put on the decals yesterday. Not that many to do, but the mouth was a PITA. Dragon should have added a blurb on the instructions to add the tow hooks and tool rack, after the mouth decal is applied. So to anyone who decides to build this kit, leave those parts off until after the mouth decal is on.

Anyways....

and you can see the left lower corner of the mouth needs to be addressed. I’ll be doing touch up painting in the next few days... plus adding some bumper codes from my spares bin, which the kit decals do not include.