Disco58 Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Doing a 'what-if' and I need some info on modern US markings. I'm ex Naval aviation (F-14 squadrons) from the 80's and have no idea whatsoever what markings modern armor carries. Even if I had a decal sheet in front of me I wouldn't know what goes where, so I need all the help I can get. Ironically, my ex used to tell me the same thing.... Anyway, any help (and decals) I can get would be greatly appreciated. FWIW, it will be a tracked vehicle if that matters, and will be purely sci-fi, so there will be room for some artistic license. Tanks guys.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 Are we talking vehicle, personnel, or both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco58 Posted October 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 Didn't think that far into it Mark, thanks. Yea, I guess I would need both since I had planned on sticking some figures in there too. I was planning on 1/72 figures to make the vehicle appear larger than it actually is (I think it's supposed to be 1/48) so I don't know if an individual soldier's markings might be a bit more than my eyeballs can handle. And really, since it's a 'what-if', and sci-fi to boot, I could fake the camo patterns, but I figured I should make it at least moderately believable. As much as anything it's the vehicle markings that hang me up. As I mentioned, I have no clue... If I had a decal sheet, a string of numbers wouldn't mean anything to me--is it a vehicle number, unit ID number, vehicle type designation....? And what does the US insignia look like these days? See what I mean? No clue <hanging head in shame>. If I had a decal sheet for a US Navy plane, I could tell you which go together, and where on the plane they go, but.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 Michael, Modern Desert camo is armor sand. Unless you want to use the old MERDEC and that means replacing green with sand. Markings are all black (if used) and consist of Cheverons, barrel names, vehicle names and unit/vehicle numbers. The current ACU is a digitixed camo pattern using colored pixels in a randomly generated pattern. Much lighter than the old BDUs. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco58 Posted October 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 MERDEC? ACU? How and why would you name a barrel? Ju gonna ha' to 'splain dat one to me Lucy cuz I don' unnastan'.... Did I mention I'm ex NAVY, the guys with ships, and the largest air force in the world? B) To me, chevrons are those V-shaped stripes under the crow on an enlisted rank patch (for some reason Army folks keep putting them on upside down <shrug>). And as far as unit/vehicle numbers and vehicle names, where do they go? As a FWIW, the vehicle I'm building is a StarWars Droid tank, so there's no turret, and essentially no front or rear surfaces for any sort of placarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aldrich Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 Michael, Knowing the vehicle helps. The barrel is not named. The vehicle is given the name and tankers put the name there. MERDEC or MERDC stands for Mobility Equipment Research & Design Command which controls how Army vehicle got painted. Here is a good link on explainations... http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/afv/merdc.html ACU stands for Army Combat Uniform. Another good link is here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform The chevrons (I believe were copied from the IDF) photos can be seen here. http://books.google.com/books?id=-ugxN7VKW...ngs&f=false The unit and vehicle numbers are usually placed on the right front and right rear of combact vehicles and are reversed at the rear. ie....Vehicle number on the right front and left rear and unit designation on the left front right rear. So in your case, you would pick the areas where you wanted to place them and repeat it in the rear area. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesWalden Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 Disco58, If your wondering about what decals to put on tanks, just put a big target on top. The Naval Aviation guys only look for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco58 Posted October 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2010 Mark - Tank you, tank you very much :P Now it makes more sense. Gotta love the military acronyms for everything. In an F-14, one of the front seat displays is a TID (Tactical Information Display). In the back seat, there is what we lovingly refer to as the RIO's (Radar Intercept Officer) "puke bowl", which gives targeting data. On it is a control switch with different display modes, one of which is TID Repeat, so the RIO can see what the pilot sees on the TID. After a flight aircrews go through the maintenance area for a debrief. One of the RIOs handed the Maintenance Officer a maintenance form, the MO looked at it, snickered, handed it to the CO who happened to be on that flight who shook his head and asked, "Tell me again why we trust you with a $50 million airplane"? The RIO (a FNG) had written "No TID repeat in OFF mode". Les -- I like that idea, tanks do make good targets, don't they... Ya know, back in the day we didn't need radar guided whatever. SBD and TBM pilots had a big red ball to line up on, Thud, Spad and Skyhawk pilots figured, "hmm, that looks like a good spot...." Roll in, pickle off and "It's Miller Time baby!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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