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Tank colour


Keith Moynihan

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Would lend lease M4s supplied to Free French forces remain in US olive drab or would they be repainted in SCC 15 or a French equivalent? I would imagine that French specific tank paint would be close to the bottom of the list of material supplied to Free French forces but would their M4s be repainted at the same time as the British M4s? 

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M4's supplied to the FF forces were most likely to have remained in US OD. After all, a repaint was the least of their worries at the time. I don't think that the French version of OD appeared until after the war. If I'm wrong, no doubt somebody will correct me.

 

John.

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The only M4s Lend-Leased to France during WW2 were 270-odd M4A4s shipped to Tunisia.  French armoured units operating under US command were treated as US units and equipped from US Army stocks.  They did receive some more ex-British M4A4s and M4A2s after the Ardennes campaign: given to US forces to make up losses but not types operated by US forces, so passed to French units who did.  France had several different types of M4.

 

France also received 1400-odd M4A1(76) and M4A1E8(76) post-war under MDAP.

 

All of these tanks would have been OD on delivery.  Post-war some were repainted, notably the M4A4s, a few M4A3s and allegedly some M4A2s which were converted to the Continental radial engine.  French post-war OD was noticeably browner than the US colour.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
9 hours ago, Keith Moynihan said:

Next project is the 1/72 Dragon M4A1 Sherman in Normandy and as luck would have it one of the schemes is OD with disruption. So time for some research. Keep modelling folks.


German tank grey is good starting point. In 1/72 even that will be quite dark.

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I wouldn't go for dunkelgrau (the official name for "panzer" grey).  As its name says, it's dark grey and not black.  But not really dark enough to be faded black.  More grey with a bit of blue when you're looking for black with a bit of grey.  I have a note in my paint list that Revell's Panzer Grey 78 (specifically) is a good match for the earlier British Nobel's Dark Tarmac, although I haven't tried it and I'm not sure I believe it.  But Dark Tarmac was a bluish black.

 

One of the various brands of Rubber Black or Revell's Anthracite 9 or Tar Black 6 would perhaps seem a better bet.

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13 hours ago, Keith Moynihan said:

Next project is the 1/72 Dragon M4A1 Sherman in Normandy and as luck would have it one of the schemes is OD with disruption.

in light of @Das Abteilung posting,  do you mean a British Sherman, which is what @Das Abteilung is referring too, or a US Sherman,  of which there are field applied disruptive schemes.  

 

A bit of advice here Keith, better questions get better answers, now the armour section is a bit less used than some other areas, so the armour buffs will glance in, and  you have got some great information, but look at the thread header as your question

 

"tank colour" is very very vague,  "were French Shermans repainted from Olive Drab" was what you originally asked. 

You can edit this BTW, there are three dots at the top right of the posting box, which allows this.  

 

Sorry, sounds like a lecture, but the thread header is what you see at a glance, so this is where to your query clear.

 

HTH   

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

I wouldn't go for dunkelgrau (the official name for "panzer" grey).  As its name says, it's dark grey and not black.  But not really dark enough to be faded black.  More grey with a bit of blue when you're looking for black with a bit of grey.  I have a note in my paint list that Revell's Panzer Grey 78 (specifically) is a good match for the earlier British Nobel's Dark Tarmac, although I haven't tried it and I'm not sure I believe it.  But Dark Tarmac was a bluish black.

 

One of the various brands of Rubber Black or Revell's Anthracite 9 or Tar Black 6 would perhaps seem a better bet.

Revell 9 matches 99% with ral 7021 which is ww2 dunkel grau. And all matches with Mike's scc14 swatch.

 

I always refer to real life colours, which is confusing if the names exist in model paint ranges... I know.

Edited by Steben
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On 24/04/2021 at 12:08, Troy Smith said:

in light of @Das Abteilung posting,  do you mean a British Sherman, which is what @Das Abteilung is referring too, or a US Sherman,  of which there are field applied disruptive schemes.  

 

A bit of advice here Keith, better questions get better answers, now the armour section is a bit less used than some other areas, so the armour buffs will glance in, and  you have got some great information, but look at the thread header as your question

 

"tank colour" is very very vague,  "were French Shermans repainted from Olive Drab" was what you originally asked. 

You can edit this BTW, there are three dots at the top right of the posting box, which allows this.  

 

Sorry, sounds like a lecture, but the thread header is what you see at a glance, so this is where to your query clear.

 

HTH   

 

 

 

Duly noted sir. Any and all information is most graciously accepted. Lecture away🙂.

 

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