Can anyone confirm the correct interior colour for British AFVs in 1940? I have read that this would have been either white or silver. The specific subject in mind is the Guy armoured car.
Thanks,
Paul
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My guess is white (I was wrong - the right color is silver) - it magnifies whatever natural light comes into the vehicle through the hatches. Same way the Germans painted their interiors for the most part in âElfenbeinâ, with some exceptions.
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One of the pics mentions silver was the standard color of all British interiors
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They were painted silver.
Took me long enough.
unrestored Churchill interior - confirming that they were painted silver on the inside.
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I did a lot of research for a Churchill build with a scratch interior. Everything I came across points to aluminum/silver interior
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SInce the British used a lot of our armor; i assumed that the interiors were the same white color as ours.
British M3 Stuart âHoneyâ.
British M3 Lee/Grant
British Sherman âFireflyâ VC.
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Pre war/ early war interiors were a lacquer/ aluminum powder concoction. I forget the exact time frame but 40/41 they figured the aluminum would be better used as Spitfires and switched to white. US/ Lend Lease stuff was US factory white.
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You know what they say about assuming⌠
US Lend Lease stuff was shipped in standard US colors ⌠No.9 OD/ White. Brits repainted stuff in middle east /MTO their camo⌠up till mid 44,then left US OD. UK/ NWE were left US factory colors⌠except remanufactured (Sherman Ic, Vc, Achilles) /major overhauls were repainted SCC-15. Interior was moot by then, UK was using white interiors too.
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But note here that not everything the UK got from the US was Lend-Lease: most Grants were paid for directly by the UK, for example, and many were painted in khaki green No. 3 or a sand colour (apparently âCoronado Tanâ) straight from the factory. However, I donât know whether the insides of these were painted American white or British silver.
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It sort of begs the question Paul of how much of the interior will be seen? Iâm assuming this is in your normal small scale; if hatches are open then the usual practice is to paint any exposed surfaces in the same colour as the exterior.
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Question I had eons ago ⌠Brits repainted their LL Shermans with light stone/ Portland, some with US OD showing through for camo or with a Brit color / pattern. From the factory the interior of the hatches would be US OD. Would they have repainted the interior of the hatches or just left them as is? (I think, why bother. )
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Ah but Timothy, despite the possible shortage of wartime paint, never overlook the Brit propensity for sheer âbullshitâ ie the required application of effort to polish/paint/shine military things that would not normally warrant it, to a desired conformity.
I even know of a Guards CO who demanded that his vehicle fleet - I think of CVR(T) to be painted in the black/green combo, but to all the same pattern, thus completely defeating the whole idea of disruptive-pattern painting. But it looked smart when they were all lined up(!)
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Since the US established a single pattern for each vehicle for the MERDC camouflage schemes, it seems that âstandardizationâ beat out concealment there as well. Although I have to wonder whether vehicles would be close enough together in the field for pattern recognition to pick up the repetition.
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Sean, I agree; I 'm not sure whether or not any pattern helps; that said, I always thought that the Brit effort from 1971 onwards of just two contrasting colours made the most sense. Any more than that, well⌠The thereâs the impact of mud, dust etc. Any colours soon merge and/or disappear.
However, we all know that if the balloon went up for real, then every last vehicle would probably have looked like a small forest, sporting a mix of cam nets and foliage, thus rendering any paint-scheme almost redundant - but of course - armies have to start somewhere.
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Pattern recognition requires good enough photos to work with.
Dirty, half obscured, loaded with âluggageâ disrupts the patterns and confuses the algoritms.
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AFAIK, the three-colour NATO scheme was developed specifically, using actual research and testing, to better hide vehicles than other schemes then in use, particularly when they start to move. The reason for painting each vehicle exactly the same is because the pattern for each vehicle type has (supposedly) been developed with that goal in mind â letting the crew or some random paint guys at a factory or maintenance unit come up with the pattern themselves would quickly defeat the purpose.
Thereâs some interesting reading about the effectiveness of camouflage in a US Army report on dual-texture gradient patterns (you know, the blocky camo used in the late 1970s through late 80s by the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment).
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Clearly not the British way who thought otherwise; it was always left to individual units to interpret this:
(Taken from Dick Taylorâs excellent publication in the âWarpaintâ series; Iâm sure he wonât mind.) The caption cites an order from 1980, but Iâm fairly sure the same was published in a Defence Council Instruction back in around 1971.
I have actually seen that report before but cannot remember where or how - and very interesting it is; of course, the Dual-Tex experiment is also covered in the excellent Tankograd booklet:
I hope this discussion is of use to some modellers (in addition to Paul!); one doesnât see much in the way of Duel-tex on the display tables thatâs for sure. Iâm a bit reluctant to have a go myself(!) Itâs the sequencing that would probably defeat me.
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I forgot to mention: some time ago I produced around 10 pages or so of my memories of life in a Corps HQ in the field back in 1971 for publication in a model clubâs newsletter. It contained the following memory re the painting of vehicles:
Painting of Vehicles. When I first arrived at Corps HQ, the vehicle fleet was largely still in a gloss Deep Bronze Green; Over the ensuing months vehicles were assembled on the barracksâ square, roughly around 20-30 at a time and repainted. I donât think there was much preparation; a SNCO from 14 Sqn RCT would chalk rough outlines onto the gloss paintwork, and soldiers and the MSO set to with matt olive green and black paint. There didnât seem to be much expertise applied; I even saw mops and dustpan-type brushes being used to apply the new scheme. Windscreens werenât even masked off and there was no rubbing down at all, or at least that I noticed; remember, this was all really a fleeting series of glances as I had my own job to do, but Iâm pretty sure of my memories, not least as it all seemed somewhat unprofessional. But what the hell did I know?
Apologies to Paul for the thread-drift(!)
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I have that book and it is excellent. Some great camo schemes as well as diorama ideas.
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Most armies donât, but I was specifically referring to the three-colour NATO camouflage there: if that is indeed taylored to each specific vehicle to be as effective as possible, you do not want people just taking a stab at it â before you know it, your camouflage will be about as effective as this:
I have that, but came across it only after I had already delved fairly deeply into the subject (including digging up the report I linked to) for an article I started to write over ten years ago but never did finish ⌠Maybe I should one of these days 
Iâve been wanting to paint a model in it since before I began writing the article (that, IIRC, is why I ended up writing it: the research I did for the model) but never actually did. I would just copy photos of real vehicles to get the pattern right.
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