Hi How much weathering is enough on the inside of a W.W. II armored vehicle? I know there are scuff marks, chipped paint, and dings and such, but I was wondering just how much dirt, grit and grime from the outside usually got into one of these vehicles? Personally I would have to say that no matter how dusty, dirty and downright nasty the outside could look, the insides should, if anything, be worse. After all, the outside could be basically washed off, either intentionally or through the help of Mother Nature, but I would have to imagine the insides never got washed or cleaned to any extent, unless the vehicle was being rebuilt. Now I'm talking about vehicles here that have seen some heavy combat action and been in the field a few weeks or so.

Anywy, I was just curious what others opinions here would be on this subject.

Thanks in advance and take care. Sgirty

i would tend to agree with what you have already said,

the areas accessed by the crew, seats, floor, sponson sides handles etc would be very worn, possibly down to the metal, and i would imagine the floor would be covered in dirt, brought into the vehicle by the crews boots. as you have said, cleaning the inside of a tank would be a low priority, and a difficult task anyway.

unless it was an open topped vehicle, i wouldnt expect too much rust inside, as water would only really enter through open or leaky hatches.

cheers

joe

Im not so sure about the dirt inside, sure it will be dusty, sometimes muddy, but most of a crews sparetime is spent on keeping the gear i good shape since its vital for your survival.

The driver will look after the engine etc., the radiooperator will take care of radio, the gunner will resighten weapons, the commander will update on intell and the loader will preform a lot of other task, both helping the others, and his own field of work.

All in the crew will help on loading ammo an fuel, but im sure the interiour allso will be looked after - as nobody in the crew has an interest in the loader sliding in a pool of mud in the middle of a battle.

Another thing is the survivability of a tank, will it last long enough to be dirty...
So, the paint will be worn down, in some cases scraped off to prevent flying paintchips like on german tanks, and dust will collect - to a certain point, where the tank will recieve a runover by crew and support personel.

I agree with Jan. Maintenance and cleaning are always being done by crewmembers. Every time the vehicle stops there is work to do on it. Keeping things clean inside is important to keep things working right. As Jan also stated, the crewmembers don't want to be slipping around inside either. I would suggest that to add dirt to the inside of the tank, keep it toned down to built up dust/dirt in the corners and depressions inside the tank.

When it comes to weathering remember - "less is More."

Guys fought in these steel monsters and its unlikely they would have it filled with mud, dirt and debris. Some dust, dirt and especially metal scuffing would be appropriate.

Dust - yes, rust - unlikely
Oilspill - yes, Mud - only in limited amounts
wear and showing basepaint - yes
blood - maybe ..... :-)

According to a collegue of mine, who served as a Loader in an M60 in the Israeli Army, oil or grease was never present inside their tanks, except for the runnig parts (turret race, ect). Dust was plenty, even shortly after cleaning the stuff inside out.. They hardly clean the inside anyway, except for moving mechanisms and the radio equipment which was cleaned painstackingly with a small brush......
Mud in Israel??? Nah, so that part he couldn't comment about.

What about gun powder residue? If the tank has just been firing the mail gun while buttoned up I would think, in the turret at least, there would be a residue.
Never been in a tank battle, so I may be wrong.
What do you guys think?
Chuck

I have operated in M113's and Hummers and 2 1/2 ton trucks. The 113's I operated at Ft. Carson, CO and we kept them fairly clean. The outside had a constant light coat of dust and there was a build up around hard edges of the cupola's and antennae bases, bolt heads etc. The inside we tried to keep clean since we "lived" in them most of the time.

During OIF1 however, the inside of my 2 1/2 ton truck was constantly dirty with a heavy build up of dirt and sand on the floor and under the seat. I cleaned the inside pretty regularly for the first couple of months but it was futile. There were constant dust storms and the thing would be a mess again in a day or two so I kind of gave up. We did constant cleaning of the radio's, weapons, engines, air filters and kept the chassis greased. The areas that we had constant contact with on the truck(side steps, tops of fenders around the hood, steering wheel/gear shift and seats) stayed clean from contact. Driving 2 miles down the road would throw a heavy coat of dust back on everything.

I believe the answer to your question lies in the consideration of the operational area, how motivated the crew was to keep the system clean and the time of year.