Colour chart help

[Wayne Henderson]

As a request for another restorer, I'm looking for a colour chart to id "Karki green no.7" (Australia) to go on an Attack Carrier. Any ideas to "official colours" for carriers?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Hi Wayne,

Try Mike Starmer's articles British AFV Camouflage.

Regards,
Hanno
paint schemes for CMP trucks

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi Wayne

Haven't heard of that colour. Most of the carriers were manufactured in the era of Khaki Green No. 3 this being a colour I am frequently using when restoring the Museum's vehicles. I obtained the original colour off some parts on our 1941 carrier and had it colour matched. If you want I can send you a sample.

Look at Mike Cecil's Military Technology book featuring the carriers on this subject.

Bob

[Tony Smith]

The closest I've come across is a colour card produced by Spartan Paints for their WW2 RAAF paints. However, these colours don't correspond to British Standard No's or even to the Aust Army ASC Standard Numbers. Standard Camoflage Colour No7 dark green closely resembles US Standard FS595a colour 34096 and this is currently available (off the shelf!) in a Milspec lustreless enamel from Valspar paints in Sydney.
At Corowa this year I was able to buy some unopened tins of WW2 dated "Khaki No 2 gas detecting paint" which after racing home to open, I found bore more resemblance to "a pile of No 2" than Khaki!

[Mike K]

Guys ,

After spending hours studying the many picxs on the AWM website of Aust. army vehicles WW2 . The colours used on Aust. vehicles varied enormously due to many factors .

1. The matt enamel paint they used faded very quickly , after 6 months the vehicle would appear to be a different shade than originally painted, this applies particularly in tropical areas where the sun was fierce .

2. The vehicles were often repainted after issue to units e.g . disruptive patterns . In overseas units (AIF) paint sourced from the British would have been used e.g. in Nth Africa

3. Paint manufacturers then didn't have access to modern matching techniques , it was all done by eye .

4. The various vehicle assemblers in Aust. probably didn't source their paint from the same supplier , e.g. Dulux or Taubmans or whatever .

5. Different paint companies used different formulas .

and so on it goes .

Mike