Info needed: correct colours for WWII Aust vehicles

[Tony Wheeler]

Thanks very much Tony, that's exactly the kind of info I was seeking and couldn't get from paint companies! Most of them recommended acrylic but I couldn't get a satisfactory explanation as to why.

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Thanks very much Tony, that's exactly the kind of info I was seeking and couldn't get from paint companies! Most of them recommended acrylic but I couldn't get a satisfactory explanation as to why.

I would suspect the recommendation to acrylic has something to do with it being by far the easiest to prep for and to apply. Also, you can rub it back and spray over again within several hours, if not happy with the result. Acrylic paints have a natural tendency to be a lower sheen finish 'off the gun'. A desirable quality with MV applications. Flattening base significantly lowers the sheen with smaller volume required to do so compared with other paint types. Just be aware that all acrylics are more susceptable to water infultration, as opposed to poly or enamel (with similar flat base in them). And of course, you dont need a spray booth to apply. Its less likely to try and kill you if not wearing an ideal respirator. For the poly paints, we always used a spray hood type which had positive air pressure. Not an easy thing to become acdustomed to wearing, and compressor air STINKS too, take my word for it!

[Tony Wheeler]

Thanks again Tony, sounds like acrylic may have some advantages for an amateur like me. I like the idea of using less flattener too, it strikes me as something to be minimized if possible.

Like you I'll be spraying everything outdoors. That's what I've always done in the past - usually out of necessity for want of a shed! However on the few occasions when I have sprayed panels indoors I've found they tend to attract MORE dust and insects, not less! Plus of course the fumes build up as you mention. As far as I can make out it's preferable in every way to spraypaint outdoors - unless you're running a business of course, in which case you can't always afford to wait for suitable weather!

[Jim Burrill]

If you live on a farm, then the spray is not an issue..

I was painting the tac and div signs on my carrier some years back in my garage with the door open. A neighbor came by all upset that my paint was speckling his car.


Now, he was parked on the alley about 50 yards away, and was pointing out some dots about the size of a period on a printed page. Most were whitish and some words were about to be exchanged, but a few dots were the same color green as I was using for the Reconnaissance Tac sign of green and blue with white numbers.

Now I was painting from a rattle can, so I was rather gobsmacked that the overspray could travel some 50 yards. But I did see colored dots that did match my tac sign.

SO, I spent a good hour with a wooden popsickle stick rubbing out the dots.

Another time, after I moved here, I was painting the Humber A/C with a proper spray gun and realized I was gettign a nice cloud of spray wafting across the road - with the occasional car driving through it. Although no one stopped to complaine, It forced me to hold my spraying to when no traffic was passing, and I had to spend more time watching for cars than I did keeping an eye on my paint coverage.

Next paint job for the Humber will be by brush......

[Private_collector]

Hello Jim,

Very good point! Some paint types worse than others. You wouldn't want to spray any varieties outside in suburbia. Not a problem for me here.

Which ever paint you use, if sprayed outdoors, and neighbours (or their cars etc...) are in proximity, they will get gassed and paint mist will settle in unwanted places.

Im glad you brought this up, Jim. Tony Ws paint shop may be taking his painting environment into account when they encouraged acrylic. Believe it or not, I met my wife as a result of painting a friends car in an enclosed garage that he chose, which belonged to a female friend of his who was sharing a unit with the girl who has now been my wife for nearly 25 years. I was in the process of spraying in the enclosed garage, when she opened the access door and walked in wihout realising the volume of acrylic paint mist inside. Needless to say she didnt hang around in there and retreated ASAP. It was in checking that she was OK that I came to meet her. Do note, it was acrylic paint. If it was poly or enamel, I couldnt have painted in that location. Would have been too unpleasent for those in nearby units etc., and the paint spray would have settled onto the garage floor. Once dried, you would not get it off the concrete. Thats the good thing about acrylic, it dries into a dust while still in the air, and unless it finds something to contaminate close to the place its being sprayed, it is just an annoying smell and lots of powdery dust. Not so simple with the other paint types. Their mist can travel 50 meters of so, while still being able to attach itself to something valuable when it arrives. Once again, not a problem for me here, but the front roller door of my workshop has a texture approaching 240 grit sandpaper, solely because of the enamel paint dust that has settled there.

Tip: to remove paint spray contamination that is not completely dry, use a soft rag with mineral turpentine on it. It works on a variety of surfaces, including vehicles with factory paint or repainted with anything other than enamel. You can even use it over enamel, so long as hardener was used and surface was not freshly painted.

Theres lots of consideration to achieving a good paint job!

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Jim Burrill

A neighbor came by all upset that my paint was speckling his car....I spent a good hour with a wooden popsickle stick rubbing out the dots.

You've just reminded me of a similar experience Jim, when I sprayed my first car at the age of 17, a Wolseley 1500. I sprayed it outdoors in British Racing Green, and my mother's pale green Austin 1800 was parked in the driveway barely 10 metres away. A couple of weeks later my father was washing it when he suddenly noticed millions of BRG dots all over one side! It was such an even coat you couldn't see it until you got real close. He was absolutely ropable, especially when we discovered it couldn't be removed with turps after so long. In the end it had to be rubbed off with a cloth and car polish, which took me the best part of a day's hard labour!

I'm glad you raised it Jim as I'll need to be careful if it can travel 50 metres and still stick to things. My neighbour often parks his brand new 4WD in the driveway, and it's white!

[Private_collector]

If you have any connections in the auto repair industry, or know someone who may, you might be lucky enough to be able to use someones spray booth on a Saturday. I dont know what the going price currently is but it used to be roughly 1 carton of beer. Allowing for inflation in last quarter of a century, and adjusting for international exchange rates & wind direction..........maybe somewhere nearer......say....a bottle of scotch. Glenfiddich, of course

Start befriending your local panel shop foreman, Tony! Then, problem solvered!!

[Tony Wheeler]

Actually I'm not too badly placed here Tony, I'm on an acre block, but I'll still need to be aware of any breeze direction, as the shed will be on the fence line adjacent to my neighbour's driveway. I can always ask him to move his car when I spraypaint, and I'm pretty sure he won't need to be asked twice!

[Ian Fawbert]

Hi Gina,

While looking on g503.com, I found the post which made me wonder if your marking was USMC.

Have a look here (page 2 in particular). The scanned page of shapes in the post from Mark Tombleson is what im referring to.
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php...33622&start=15

Cheers,
Ian.

[Mrs Vampire]

Many thanks.

The diamond on its side it right but no explanation yet for Roman Numerals XXI and the ZZB below .

[Mrs Vampire]

so this from the archives .

Australian camouflage information can be had at the Australian archives. Look for MP222/1 series
so MP222/1 13D part 1
then 13 A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
then MP222/1 part 2 , 3 and 4

That covers the information for pre 1942 , 1942 two tone disruptive and 1943 three tone disruptive . The files speak of types of paint problems with application and orders as to who should apply it.

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/search/index.aspx

go to advanced search and put in the numbers

[Mrs Vampire]

I am all miserable again.

O ordered the humbrol paints as listed earlier in this thread and in other places in MLU.

I mixed them up using measure then using weight.

The green pre 1942 is reminiscent of the colour on the Vickers Mk IV B so I think that is OK but its very dark.

Both the Stuart and the FGT are clearly not that colour. But the mix for the post 1942 green is way too dark. I have some places in the FGT that are pristine ( the lockers in the back and places like that ) and on the Stuart under some of the fittings I have unbolted.

Both the FGT and the Stuart seem to be the same base green colour though the Stuart even when rubbed back is clearly faded tending to whiten off .

The Vietnam era green is closer than the mix of humbrol paints I made for the post 1942 green. So now I guess I have to do a colour match on the pristine parts of the FGT...so I will remove a door and see if I can get a formula for that colour and use that as my base green for both vehicles.

Mikes formula for the light stone is crisper than the colour on the tank but it seems about right given the Tank has faded. I am happy to go with it... I think

Trouble is of all the events I have been to and all the museums visited I have never seen tanks painted in the schemes I will use I have only seen old B&W photos ... maybe I will paint up a model or something but it seems they will they look quite startling.

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Gina Vampire

maybe I will paint up a model or something but it seems they will they look quite startling.

really. here are two of mine...pre and Post 1942. I think it looks correct.

[Mrs Vampire]

I mixed exact amounts according to the formula and mine are much much darker than your mix.

The Vickers that I owned was a much darker green than that on your first truck . The FGT has a more green colour. Closer to vietnam era jungle green but brighter.

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P08521.005

My feeling is my green is greener and my light stone is paler, greyer and lighter than the formulas produce. The Humbrol Pale Stone 121 is very close to the pale colour on the Stuart and the green start colour 159 is closer to the green than the mixed colour.

The Vickers was painted very much the same as the one at Pucka which I took to be the dark pre 1942 green .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Tank_Mk_VI