Primer colour 2 or did they do that

[David Lovell]

Moving away slightly from the question in painting chit chat(black one shot being my current favourite) the King of 4BO got in my head with his current build I to had to purchase some of that oxide one shot primer(except he won't make me strip down my airbrush ill just flush through with a decent tool cleaner) . So oxide used to prime the metal should be the best base then for whatever colour your painting your tank, truck etc, I think I know the germans used it but did we or the Americans ,you hear tales of Russian tanks leaving the factory bare metal .So what I want to know is before as a nation we carry on with hair spray and chipping fluid who used oxide primer.
Another thought as a young lad I was regularly taken to Bovey (it was free and looking back now my parents never had much)if you knew wich tanks ,there were loads outside you could get in through the floor hatch ,if I rember (one doesn't forget a cuff around the ear) the insides were painted silver wich never seemed to fully dry hence the cuff ,in later years I was told that if the armour withstood a good clanging on the outside there was less chance of being covered in hard paint scabs ,flakes?
Dave

[Guest]

I’m not 100% certain, but it’s a good bet pretty much everything made of steel was painted in red lead primer back in the day, regardless of the country it came from.

I don’t know the exact reason for the silver paint in British vehicles, but that was used from at least the 1930s on, with some exceptions during the war but resumed afterward. I doubt it being flexible enough to withstand an impact on the armour would be a major consideration in its use, though. It was probably more the idea that metallic paint is the best reflector of light inside the vehicle, but like you say, it had the distinct drawback that it never seemed to really dry. This, AFAIK, is one of the reasons the British too eventually went to white interiors: so tankers’ uniforms were no longer smeared with silver.

[Steve Jones]

Totally agree with everything Jakko has said and here is a little more meat on the bones. British armour interiors were silver from 1930s until about mid 1940 when gloss white came into use. As time progressed the aluminium content of the paint became scarce as it was needed for aircraft production, hence the change to white. The silver metallic paint was used because metallic paint, when hit by a high-energy round, breaks up into a powder and doesn't do any damage. Other types of paint by conrast, form sharp-edged flakes and can injure crewmen.

[Tim Marlow]

I’ve heard a couple of accounts (two veterans giving talks at the Salisbury history festival, one Desert campaign, one Normandy) from British tank crew men that the first thing they did when getting a new tank was to sand off the paint on the inside. They said that strikes on the painted surface filled the air with dust and momentarily blinded them. These talks were given in different years, which adds veracity to the accounts. Neither of them said what colour the paint was though....but the Normandy vet was in Cromwells, originally tak8ng over replacements, so that should be silver.

[Airborne01]

I joined up in the mid '60s until 1989 - many of the Ferrets, Saladins, Pigs, and 432s were painted silver internally but around the 70's a sort of pale buff/white colour became common as I recall. I think Takom (432) says the same - I can't get to the bottom of my stash to verify!

[David Lovell]

Thanks to all for their input ,the original question of primer colour down in paint chit chat was wich colour primer was best for the top coat color so if oxide was the base primer in real life I suppose armour wise should be the way to go ,I've got one well under way (I'll post it up later)and saying as young Racey made get some I'll prime in oxide and see what I think of the spray colour ,sounds strange but I find the black primer iluminanates the top coat if that makes sense . Dave.