Pat's M5 Stuart The Many Colors of Stu

21st Century has offered the 1:6 Stuarts in several color schemes.

	The original was olive drab, had no weathering, and had clear white markings. Wal*Mart, Christmas 2003
	Next came the "desert" scheme, as seen here on my M5, before I repainted it. There's no such thing as a desert camo pattern- US Army Stu's that went to North Africa were plain OD, though the early ones had some unique markings. I don't think this version was intended to be desert-related, just faded with panel-edge highlighting, a typical weathering trick. The light shade is similar to what I see on the tanks that have been parked outside at the Patton Museum for many years. Wal*Mart, summer 2004
	Then came winter. Crews on both sides used whitewash to help hide their vehicles in winter. And you can expect mud too! This one has it all. Wal*Mart, Christmas 2004.
	Most recently, we've seen a special edition on sale at Sam's Club (Christmas 2004), which also comes with four figures- two US, two German. This one has the original OD shade and markings, with just mud added.
	My preference? These are all fun, and quite fine for toys. But if you're going to customize and authenticize, you'll want to avoid the heavy handed stuff on these factory jobs... too often, the mud doesn't look like spattered mud, but a just stripe of brown spray paint, more like graffiti.  Also keep in mind that the real tanks were only in the field for 2 or 3 years, so heavy fading may not be appropriate... though scratches and mud are! If you get into body mods, you'll need to repaint anyway. After cutting/sawing/hacking/filing & filling, cover everything with a coat of primer for uniformity, then hit her with Krylon OD camo. Then you can add weathering and mud as you like. I find that running around in the back yard adds plenty of authentic mud! Back to Pat's Stuart page