Canadian M135
 

I have a friend 3d designing and printing me a GMC M135 2.5 Ton truck as used by the Canadian Army in the 1950's. I am attaching a photo of the colour scheme I would like to use but am having difficulty with the insignia on the door due to the angle.

Does anyone have any input as to what this insignia looks like as it seems to be very similar to the one used after unification?

Thanks in advance.

Neil Craig

M135cdn
 

Neil, the M135CDN was used by the Canadian military for three decades so the vehicle type has carried a myriad of markings during its lifetime. The markings on the door of the vehicle in the photograph you provided is the Canadian Forces tri-service badge. This was a decal that was produced in various sizes to apply to the doors of vehicles that were generally considered to be used for non-tactical purposes, although they were certainly used on some of the SMP fleet, which I suspect were vehicles held by schools.

I always recommend using a photograph as the basis for any vehicle markings but at the same time knowing what the markings represent and the era they were used is also key as I have mentioned, the topic is very broad.

Attachment 136565

colours
 

The photo is a very ordinary 2 1/2-t 6x6 truck with winch. The green is a typical semi-gloss, which is a brownish green. The canvas tarp is two pieces, hence the two colours. The ropes are plain hemp natural fibre.

The combat uniform worn by the figure behind the truck wasn't issued until the early 1960s. The other figures look like they are wearing previous patterns of uniforms, but I'm not confident identifying which.

Terry: The tarpaulin is actually 3 pieces: a top, a and 2 end end curtains. The strip of tarpaulin along the side with slightly different coloration is actually the hi-low feature of the Canadian tarpaulin. You could have the bows in the raised position in which case the extra side strips are un-buttoned from the main tarp and folded down. If the bows are moved to the lowered position, the sides are folded back up and the ropes go directly to the tie down points as opposed to going through the extra strips. The different shades of olive between the upper and lower portion of the main tarp may have to do with the lower tarp receiving less sunlight if it was folded.

Of note is that the Canadian trucks had a higher exhaust extension than the US trucks in order to clear the higher tarpaulin.

Re the tri-service decals, I remember that the sigs trucks had them, where the average militia and reg force trucks, with their 20 coats of cam paint, did not. I also recall seeing the decals on some of the deuces in Borden, which as Ed says, would be more administrative or training as opposed to field force.