Can some kind soul let me know the FS number of the desert sand colour that M1’s are painted for Gulf / Iraq .
Cheers,
Pete
Armor Sand is the color you need: Armor Sand FS 30277
I just did a Bradley and an Abrams, and found that the Model Master Armor Sand was lot darker than what I was seeing on the photos of the vehicles. I then tried Model Master Sand and found it to be spot on compared to the photos. Not having my paint bottles handy, I don’t know what the FS number is for MM Sand vs. MM Armor Sand.
MM Sand is FS 33531. A few of the guys in the army in the forum said they have painted the Armor Sand on the actual vehicle for comparison and it was exact. I cannot vouch for this, as I am not in the military. Previous to reading that, I used MM Marine and Army Gulf War Armor, which is a warmer more yellow color. Those same guys said it wasn’t as close, so I went to Armor Sand.
i’m using sand myself and it looks good. if you weather it and put on some details it should change a bit and would more closely match whatever color they’re using currently or have been using. dirt can make a color look different from the way it was put on at the factory, so sand might be the right color but…you factor in dirt and it looks too light.
i dont think either is wrong, whatever you think is right is the right one for you. i prefer sand personally.
i also think it depends on the look you’re going for. whether its a fresh off the production line look or a been “in country” for a tour or two look, the difference can be dramatic.
Plus I have a feeling light in pictures can change the look of the paint job too. Pick up both, do some experimenting and let us know!
Thanks for the help, well done guys.
Pete
My comparison favoring the lighter sand was, of course, on a painted model vs. the photos on the box. I suppose this probably dovetails into the various discussions about the scale effect on paint color as well as the effect of different lighting conditions on the model vs the real thing. Although I’ve never intentionally lightened paint for the “scale effect”, probably using sand vs. armor sand effectively did the same thing.
Model Master Sand, FS33531 is the color that you want. Take it from me! The following is a pic of a 5 ton that I am working on now, its not done so don’t beat me up too hard on it. I just noticed that the step is CROOKED, wow never noticed that till the pic. LOL anywho, the darker color is the MM Armor sand, and it is used on a lot of replacement parts. As is the green. This truck is kinda what they look like after they have been into the shop for body damage repair. I hope this helps you in your quest.
You are probably right, ABARNE. With armydogdoc’s location being Iraq, I must defer to that, previous forums be darned. Nice job, by the way. Aside from the step, which you’re fixing anyway, it looks great. Really like that two-tone!