Hi All,

What color was most prevalent for the metal parts of machine guns, whether used on/in aircraft or ground-based? Black, bluing, 'gun metal', painted camoflague?

Is there a difference between Germany, Japan, US, UK, etc.?

All the best,

Fred

It's been my observation that typically the Guns are not painted on aircraft but left natural metal, I've seen parade vehicles with 30 and 50 cals painted OD except for the barrel, (painted parts get pretty chipped up with use), but I paint mine overall "Burnt Exhaust" by MM. Gives them that used look and it's a guess as to whether they were blued, or black, or gunmetal.

Hi there

I don't think there is a single "standard" colour. You really need to find references for each weapon, because all of the finishes you suggest are appropriate.

Maybe we should try to compile a quick-check reference list of machine-gun types and their colours?... I'd certainly find it useful.

All the best

Rowan

You could just paint it Model Master Metalizer Gunmetal, or flat black with a little dry brushing of steel. That what I do, and no one has complained yet.

~Chip :-)

I usually paint mine a matte dark gray and then rub the high spots with some graphite.

Shaun

As for me, I paint it either flat baclk, gunmetal or mettalic grey.

I paint them gun metal with orange/red color tipping.

It sometimes depends on scale. The smaller the scale the darker I'll go.
Usually its flat black with some drybrush aluminum.
Or
Tamiya Gun Metal AB'ed on.

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies so far!

Today I pulled out my Allied WWII In Color book. Very few shots of guns and those are mostly either reflecting too much sun, or in shadow.

There is a common photo of an M-2/-3 halftrack with fording hose which shows many interesting details. The .50 cal. is a matt black-gray. The vehicle I would call MM OD, except the circled star has a khaki color filling in between the circle and the star.

Some good shots of rifles all look to be best represented with a generic steel paint, with a light dark wash.

I have MM's acryil Gun Metal which is a dark metallic blue. I like the color but aside on civil firearms, really never see it on military guns. Still, I am shooting it onto several Aero Master white metal MGs. Just because #:-)

I look forward to more discussion.

Thnaks all.

Most all of the Modern day Aircraft from the Vietmnam Era on are Gunmetal. With the details such as the bolts heads and flash supressors are either sliver or brass colors.
Depending on how much detail the gun has the barrel locks on the front of the 20 and 30 mm cannons will have three bolts heads and a string of saftey wire running to each bolt both of those are silver.
If you want a hint of shine for the barrels Keenan hit the nail on the head. You can rub the barrel with a pencil lead. Hope this helped

Paul