M1 MERDC...

[panzergator]

Take a look at redleg's last post of M60s in the Happy Thanksgiving thread. That's pretty close.

[Cav Dog]

MERDC was the color scheme of the M60/M113 Army.

M1/M2/M3 came from the factory in CARC Green, which is FS 34079 Forest Green by the manuals, up until ODS at which time they magically turned CARC Tan.

I'm my experience at Ft Hood and Germany in the 80s, I never saw an M1/M2/M3 in anything other than CARC Green operationally. When we got back from ODS and went on a rotation to NTC, the Abrams and Bradleys in the unit sets there were in MERDC but after a day they were all basically Mojave Dirt.

Later generation M1s and M2/3s were either CARC Tan or NATO 3 tone, depending on theater.

Given you're modeling Team Yankee which calls for M113s as APCs alongside M1 tanks, anything goes.

As for CARC Green, aka FS34079 Forest Green, at this scale, any medium gray green will work, just stay away from brown or yellow olives.

Best match I ever saw was the old Polly S line of paints which had a color called ...

Wait for it...

US Armor Green

[Brigade Commander]

MERDC was the color scheme of the M60/M113 Army.

M1/M2/M3 came from the factory in CARC Green, which is FS 34079 Forest Green by the manuals, up until ODS at which time they magically turned CARC Tan.

I'm my experience at Ft Hood and Germany in the 80s, I never saw an M1/M2/M3 in anything other than CARC Green operationally. When we got back from ODS and went on a rotation to NTC, the Abrams and Bradleys in the unit sets there were in MERDC but after a day they were all basically Mojave Dirt.

Later generation M1s and M2/3s were either CARC Tan or NATO 3 tone, depending on theater.

Given you're modeling Team Yankee which calls for M113s as APCs alongside M1 tanks, anything goes.

As for CARC Green, aka FS34079 Forest Green, at this scale, any medium gray green will work, just stay away from brown or yellow olives.

Best match I ever saw was the old Polly S line of paints which had a color called ...

Wait for it...

US Armor Green

I am going to try and keep this pleasant but...

After finding out that I was shivved in the back by Rustoleum I am reading through this thread more closely now. I have 1330 vehicles painted in FS34079 which my jar of Model Masters acrylic calls Dark Green. While at work I received a message from the company that I put an order in to for another batch of bottles to inform me that it is:
a) discontinued,
b) not to be found,
c) all of the above.

And the answer is "C"!

So, I have another 151 vehicles sitting in primer. And all the while I was congratulating myself on at least having everything in a minimum of primer. Have not had that condition since my very first ever GHQ order 20+ years ago. Unfortunately for GHQ I found out before I put in another large order to rival my October sale order. Now I am not sure what to do. Any other paint is going to be glaringly mismatched. I do not even have enough paint to finish what I have to do on the table. Anyone have any idea of what might come close? I am only looking at acrylics. I really do not want to have paint thinners, etc around the house. Enamel undercoating is obnoxious enough and done outside as much as possible. And I miss the Polly S Concrete paint. It was a textured paint textured with...

Wait for it...

Concrete!

Used it a lot in model railroad scenery work. Another star product killed off by corporate mismanagement. Rustoleum bought up their rivals to put them out of business thinking they will improve their sales. They will find out their sales are not improving because they still have only their low sales crap for products. Good riddance to them. Yes, I know it became a rant. (SIGH...) Apologies. Yet more frustration with hobbies. They are ruined by the companies that depend on the very customers they negatively affect for their business.

[Gort]

This thread needs some pictures. Therefor I will commit a gross copyright violation and provide some. In my defense I do not claim that these are mine and that I am posting them for discussion purposes only.

From my bookshelf:









All of the above are from the 2nd AD at Fort Hood in 1983.

From the same book, an M1 at Aberdeen Proving Grounds:


Caption should read "The recruiter promised me I could fly jets"

cheers

[panzergator]

Yep. Got that when it was brand new.

[Gort]

Brigade Commander

Concrete!

Have you tried Top Coat Concrete (ST1454) from Woodland Scenics?

It's an acrylic and comes in 4 oz bottles. The colour is a kind of tan to resemble old concrete. It's not textured per se, but that is nothing that can't be cured with a bit of talc.

As for 34079, I've still got a jar of the enamel version of that (Model Master), but I can't paint with it until the warm weather returns. I need open windows and a fan running or it's a massive migraine for me. I had to switch to Tamiya acrylics in the late 80s because of that. You might have some luck with the Tamiya acrylics. When I need to match a colour I look at the pigments in the bottom of the jar. A plus for clear glass jars. Of course that assumes you can get to a store a see for yourself. If you go in that direction be aware the paint really needs to be thinned with their own X-20A thinner, and if brush painting you'll need the retarder (which I am out of) as well - or the paint will dry before it can self level.

cheers

[panzergator]

Shouldn't this painting business be getting EASIER? Seems like it's a damned site more DIFFICULT than it was 30 years ago!

[Brigade Commander]

Brigade Commander

Concrete!

Have you tried Top Coat Concrete (ST1454) from Woodland Scenics?

It's an acrylic and comes in 4 oz bottles. The colour is a kind of tan to resemble old concrete. It's not textured per se, but that is nothing that can't be cured with a bit of talc.

As for 34079, I've still got a jar of the enamel version of that (Model Master), but I can't paint with it until the warm weather returns. I need open windows and a fan running or it's a massive migraine for me. I had to switch to Tamiya acrylics in the late 80s because of that. You might have some luck with the Tamiya acrylics. When I need to match a colour I look at the pigments in the bottom of the jar. A plus for clear glass jars. Of course that assumes you can get to a store a see for yourself. If you go in that direction be aware the paint really needs to be thinned with their own X-20A thinner, and if brush painting you'll need the retarder (which I am out of) as well - or the paint will dry before it can self level.

cheers

*****First, apologies for the rant. I enjoy the forum like everyone else for the relative lack of incendiary posting. I try and always be civil. I like to think I usually succeed. I look over at the wife from time to time to check.*****

Someone from the trains group went around to D-I-Y stores until he found one that had a damaged bag of concrete mix. Came away with a coffee can of concrete mix which he uses (Used? It has been awhile.) to add texture to his concrete paint. The Top Coat Concrete might be the paint he was adding the concrete powder to. At lease it being a Woodland Scenics product seems right.

I am with you on the enamels. From the time that acrylics started showing up in matching colors to enamels enamels have left the building. I have to leave any models that have been primed outside for four to six hours before they come back inside. I am bad enough but the wife gets seriously affected by the fumes. So, acrylic or no. I thin and cleanup only with water. Not even any acrylic thinners. I have to find it again but there is a place in the region that claimed they could match any paint color in any type paint. Heading out tomorrow. Hopefully, better news and back to GHQ ordering. We will see...

[Hoth_902]

Brigade commander,

Did rust-oleum really kill both acrylic and enamel model masters line? Does rust-oleum even have any model type paints? Fuuuuuuuuuuudge!!!!!!

Why couldnt rust-oleum just leave model masters alone!!!

[Brigade Commander]

Brigade commander,

Did rust-oleum really kill both acrylic and enamel model masters line? Does rust-oleum even have any model type paints? Fuuuuuuuuuuudge!!!!!!

Why couldnt rust-oleum just leave model masters alone!!!

I was told by the place I ordered the paints from that all Model Masters paints will be gone. Cannot tell from other places I checked on the internet but from what I have seen not much will be left if any does remain. Same job as what was done to Polly S. Left many model railroaders without I know. Only time will tell fact from fiction. Either way my search has begun because FS34079 is definitely gone. I am slightly surprised they would kill off any of the "FS" paints. Slightly. Unfortunately, whatever I hopefully find, will stand out too much from the bulk of the brigade.

[Cav Dog]

Yeah rustoleum is not one of my favorite companies. I think they decided it was no longer profitable to manufacture enamels given the plethora of acrylics in addition to the risk associated with hobbyists being exposed to all the dangerous fumes and chemicals in their enamel hobby paints. Heck the all the warnings on label barely leave room for the name of the color.

I've been looking for their gulf war sand enamel for years with little success. I had to repaint about 80 vehicles that were in that color because the remaining 25 of that task force were only primed and I'm just OCD enough that the colors had to match.

Part of the problem is the various hobby paint manufacturers can't get on the same page in terms of naming colors. Per Brigade Commander's post above FS 34079 is variously called dark green, forest green, green drab or even marine green depending on manufacturer. Even within their own house, Vallejo model color listed their us dark green as FS34079 and model air listed forest green as Fs34079 in previous color charts. I mean you would think there would be some standardization, after all FS stands for Federal Standard.

[Hoth_902]

Cavdog,.

I think the reason why you can't find the enamel us/marine desert sand is be cause in early 2018, I thought they were only getting rid of that color and I bought like 6 or so bottles.

[chrisswim]

Enjoy.

[pmskaar]

Here are a couple of my GHQ M-1s as painted for me by my good friend, Begemot. I think he did a great job on these and it gives me a reference for when I paint some of my own M-1s and Bradleys.

[redleg]

That is a great looking tank!