The mufflers and shields on the M-41, M-46 and M-47s all did the same. Within an hour, all the paint is gone and overnight, the moisture gets to it (it always rains on tanks) and they will rust and the old paint will flake off. At night, after you have been running a few hours, the pots will glow bright red and let everyone know where you are. Nice in cold weather 'cuz you can always get warm and eat hot chow...but also nice to be able to hide and keep pesky metalic hornets away. The exhaust on the M-48 shot straight out the top center but the M-48A2 came with a cover that hid the mufflers and blew the exhaust out the back. This kept the heat signature to a minimum.

Bill