This happens to be the rear ramp of a Bradley, don’t know which version, and I don’t know if the paintjob is standard or unique for this particular vehicle.
(Photo “borrowed” from this YouTube Short)
We model builders often have problems figuring out the boundary between interior and exterior paint.
What lesson could be drawn from the photo above?
One photo of one Bradley does NOT prove anything about other Bradleys, US vehicles or any other vehicle old or modern.
What it does prove is that the old tip about knowing about the model subject helps.
I never thought I would see a paint boundary smack dab in the middle of a moving part like this … live and learn I suppose
One thing I can tell you based on 30 years of experience. No matter WHAT the regulations or Technical Bulletins say, there is NO SUCH THING as a single “standard” that EVERY vehicle adheres to. PERIOD. Joe will do what his NCO tells him to do, and if some judge at some contest says that what’s on YOUR model isn’t “correct”, odds are better than good, he never wore a uniform!
The best way, if you can manage it, is to build a model of a specific vehicle from a specific time period, backed up with reference photos. That’s usually not possible, but I can guarantee that if YOU build and paint your model a certain way, SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE did the same thing on an actual vehicle!
I don’t know jack about Bradleys but maybe it’s a part that is often replaced 1st, 2nd and 3rd line due to wear or stress? It also comes down to spares at supply depots, speaking as a logistician. Depot level spares would be one solid colour, green or tan. I doubt there would be two NSN’s related due to colour, and would be painted at a 2nd line to the colour needed, which as we all know varies IAW dunkelgrun laws.
Therefore the subject photo could either; a) original manufacture paint, b) done during 3rd line refurbish, c) Sgt said do it.
Considering how many hundreds of thousands of Privates have been handed paint brushes or spray guns by thousands of Sergeants over the years, I don’t see how one could label damn near anything as “wrong”.
Next we can debate “what color is OD?” Have fun with that.
I love it! Great idea for a diorama, a private painting a smiley face in camo on a Bradley in the Motor pool. (And the SMAJ having a fit when he sees it.)
I got a rocket up my Sp/4 butt in 1968 for painting the door handle on the Bn CO’s van with a non matching OD.
Yeah, I’ve seen a few come back w/more paint on them than the vehicles. Saw a photo a while back (don’t recall where) in WWII, of US troops spraying an M5, it was covered with mud, sandbags & external stowage, no matter, orders were “paint the tank”…they did.
I heard tell of ODS kit rushed from Europe and hastily repainted sand, where the crews were pushed aside and then handed packs of razor blades to scrape off all the optics and lights that the painters had no time to mask off…
