Australian camo colours

[Jeff Gordon]

Ahh, but I was thinking of the 342 series enamels. Low gloss and you can DIP IT in oil for 24hrs, and it won't show a mark!

Tony, how is it with petrol? Is there any paint that can handle it?
mainly for my BSA fuel tank.
Maybe I could just be more careful when filling it up!
I use there etchpro and it is great.
Jeff

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Jeff Gordon

Tony, how is it with petrol? Is there any paint that can handle it?
mainly for my BSA fuel tank.

Jeff

Handle the truth?
Read my link "Excellent properties" in post #8 above:

"Quote: After air drying for 7 days, a panel immersed in petroleum spirit for seven days and then removed, dried and examined, shall show no defects and appear identical to an un-immersed panel similarly prepared."

Good S***, eh?

[sth65pac]

I second Tony's comments about Protec; it is grrreat paint. After countless attempts to remove it from my garage floor (even with some serious chemicals) most has stayed put. Petrol: no worries, it is over-sprayed onto one of my Gerry Cans (don't ask) and doesn't wash off.

I noticed it is a slight bit less dark than the WWII green, which, to 'correct' the green you need to add a little brown. (sorry I had to say...) If you want a good paint match to that on a Blitz, then the chassis (that's Aussie for Frame) rails in the engine bay are close & unfaded if they are covered with grease & crud you can find a bit of painted section which will be unaffected by sunlight etc.... Also when you separate the front cowl from the cabin, the paint in there is the original stuff unless you or someone else has re-painted.

You will notice, if you put a little dab next to the original, let it dry and then check it out in a few days, you can see the protec is a bit lighter... In my honest opinion I use it straight from the tin as no-one has perfect colour vision, and NO truck had perfect paint. (I have re-introduced the factory runs into my paintwork intentionally.. Not like some who have added them in haste

I would NOT suggest people change the tint themselves unless they are experienced painters otherwise you will have a browny greeny mixed paint Probably the way they were new (200 shades of Olive drab & Green).
Oh and inside ammunition boxes provides a good guide to how much variation there was... I have a few 1950's boxes of varying shades...

Ian

[Pedr]

Hi Tony,

Are you sure that the document that you have listed is Protec's sheet relating to the properties of their 342 series paint range?

It looks and reads awfully like the standard that they were to manufacture to, to meet the ADF's requirements. In a perfect world, the paint would perform exaclty as the standard requires, however, I would be very suprised if this was really the case.

If this really is the case and the paint performs exactly as the Milspec requires, I'd definately be in for ten litres of each colour out of your two thousand litres, and could probably interest a few more people to purchase similar amounts if you are serious about this. At ten litres, it's only 200 people.

As far as colour, if there is an original colour spec book with paint swatches/chips from the era, firstly the book will have had to have been moslty closed and stored in a cool dry dark spot for the colour to have not faded or changed it's properties.

Secondly, if this is the case, ( and I don't understand why no one has thought of this before ) the printing and painting industry have a standard system that they use called PMS or Panatone, so that no matter where you are in the world, you can print the same picture with the same colour. You can't send or transmit these by computer as computers are all set differently and you won't get the same colour, so they are printed into a book.

Therefore, if we can get a copy of the original color standard book, that has been stored correctly and colour match it with a PMS/Panatone book, we will have a colour that can be matched by any paint manufacturer around the world, for vehicle painting and even model makers.

Protec already have a colour standard for "Khaki Green No. 3" that Bob set up some years ago now, although I am not sure how they arrived at the colour that they decided upon.

So finally, I am definately interested in ten litres of each colour of 342 if they are colour matched to original colour samples, and will definately find more sales to move the paint.

Pedr.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Pedr

Hi Tony,

Are you sure that the document that you have listed is Protec's sheet relating to the properties of their 342 series paint range?

It looks and reads awfully like the standard that they were to manufacture to, to meet the ADF's requirements. In a perfect world, the paint would perform exaclty as the standard requires, however, I would be very suprised if this was really the case.

If this really is the case and the paint performs exactly as the Milspec requires, ...........

Pedr.

The document is not published by Protec, but is the standard published by APAS that replaced ADE/7650 (M) which covered the original Olive Drab Enamel introduced in the Mid 60's. Protec's 342 series paints fully comply to this standard, in fact usually exceed the critieria set. When I asked Protec for their MSDS and properties sheets for the paint, that is one of the documents they referred me to.

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi Pedr - I arrived at my version of this colour from the "Brenda" restoration. I located the colour on an area that had never been exposed to the elements therefore the colour had never been degraded.

Bob