Hey folks,
Already kind of starting to plan the next project and I need help. I will be building an M1A1 Abrams which comes with two figures. The problem is that the desert camo uniforms are, quite frankly, way above my skill level and desire to paint. I know early on in the build up of the first Gulf War some soldiers still had their three color NATO cammies, so I assume I could realisitcally get away with that camo scheme, correct? I also found a picture of an Abrams with the tank crew wearing single color (desert yellow/sand) coveralls. Would this have been common enough to use also? I am pretty confident I can make a monotone figures uniform look pretty nice, but there is no way I will be able to get the little black and white dot clusters like on the desert cammies.
So basically, what are my options?
Brian
P.S. Oops, in case it is not obvious I am going for the desert color scheme on the tank.
If you intend to do the desert camo of beige and dark earth or brown of OIF it is easier than the Desert Storm camo of dark earth, black and dots of white. The OIF camo is just plain beige and a few streaks of earth or brown. Tha NATO camo is personally more difficult to do. Although in the latter part of the war, the NATO version became more common.
The Nomex CVC uniform comes in two colors, a light olive green and a desert tan color. All tankers wear them with a sage green T-shirt.
Hey guys, thanks for the replies.
I googled what the nomex suits look like…unfortunately the figures are wearing BDU style uniforms and I don’t know if I can modify them to look like the nomex suits, which actuly bites because that would make my life soooo much easier!
Looking at the OIF uniforms it appears to be simple enough. I think that is my only option right now…
Brian
hey new i think if u just tried either the 3 color desert or the woodland camo you’d have no real trouble. i can paint both of those…well, never mind i can do it perhaps u feel u cant but i really really believe that the two uniforms are so easy that u could do it without any real effort!! its the digital camo that i cant do…but only tried to do once! however, as rob has said, one is olive drab color and one is sand color as far as their monotone tanker uniforms. long story short…give it a try i think u’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it really is to paint them!
I think I will indeed give the 3 color NATO a go. Might as well try. If it does not come out well then I can just exclude the figures, or strip off the paint and try again. I am adding a bunch of gear to the stowage rack and basket, so it will have charachter. I just think the figures will make the model “pop”
Brian
just remember new, at 1:35 all u really need to do is paint alternating overlapping “patches” of the green and brown then paint the black “squigglies” (whatever they’re called[(-D]). i really cant see u screwing it up!! good luck though! [tup]
Armorama.com has some figure painting tutorials, one on the DCU I believe. Chocolate chip went out of use in the early-mid 90s when we went to a 3 color DCU that had the look of Neopolitan ice cream (it was light brown, sand and a light tan that looked kind of pink). That was the standard DCU used during OIF, much easier to paint. The cut of the uniform was still relatively the same.
especially at 1:35 scale. [:D]
Just searched the Armorama site and found the tutorial you mentioned. Interesting…
I am mainly looking to represent the kit in Desert Storm time period, so the DCU or 3 color woodland is more appropriate.
Brian
If you are doing a Desert Storm Abrams, then modern DCU is not correct. The desert uniform used during ODS was the 6-color Desert BDUs, also known as Chocolate Chip DCUs. Woodland camo BDUs would also work.
If you’re doing a Desert Storm Abrams after it went over the berm, I’d recommend doing the crew in their MOPP suits… We were all in MOPP II at that time… We had two types of MOPP suits, the BDO (Battle Dress Overgarment which was in the Woodland camo pattern) and the old CPO (Chemical Protective Overgarment, which was O.D.) The BDO’s were out there, but rarer than the CPO.