Info needed: correct colours for WWII Aust vehicles

[Mrs Vampire]

I want to put this out there for comments.

so far my reading says to me.

Khaki green no 3 is a british colour not an Australian Colour. I have found plenty of reference to it in the files but no so far as the actual specifications manufacture and supliers are concerned.

Army files tend to refer to it when the Australian Standard Khaki Green J is the actual colour they mean. I have found no evidence that khaki Green No 3 was made in Australia by any paint manufacturer.

I have found plenty of evidence that paint makers and users were required to use paint to the Australian Standard (E) 2K 509 and that the colour chip-set in that standard is the colours required.
It seems from my reading the army folk were inclined to refer to Khaki J from that chip-set as Khaki Green Number three and that a perception that because that colour was changed three times ( twice in 1942 and once in 1943 ) the resulting colour was Khaki green version 3 or number 3.

The conflation with the British standard paint terminology and the Australian colour has , in my opinion , led to confusion.

I have been unable to find a definitive history of the British colour save to say I know it is not a B.S 987 colour ( http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/archive/in...p/t-29937.html ) and it appears it was a standard outside of that British standard on an official chip .

Given that I will desist from referring to the Australian colour as Khaki Green Number 3 (KG3) and refer to it as Australian Khaki 1,2 or 3 and (J) if you will. AK1 AK2 and AK3

I understand the British KG3 is somewhat different to AK3 and a deferral to the British colour would be inaccurate. I am now attempting to source a sample of British KG3 for comparisons.

The matter is further confused by the Spartan paint chart referring to "Foliage green as K3 and "dark Green" as K2 ( the correct letter being M )the Berger chart referring to Foliage green as K (correctly) Khaki Green as J ( correctly) but omitting "dark green"

Dakin and Camouflage committee and the Australian standard are clear that the vehicle colour we all vex about is AK (J)

Shane posted a picture earlier of a can of KG3 with the following writing on it as far as I can make out from the photo. D^D paint spec Cam 11.5 Khaki Green No 3 Berger No XA369 GP 553 Bomb Section Specialization.
Unfortunately no further information on that can of paint was forthcoming. Where did it come from or the provision of a sample.

It is not clear if the paint is of British or Australian origin ( Berger being a British firm made paints in the UK , Australia India and elsewhere ) perhaps someone expert on broad arrows could help with that.

My thoughts for now .

[Mrs Vampire]

Sorry Bruce the Bar code for that file is 3367609

the bar code is displayed if you do an item search using the file number and control number

sorry I neglected that detail...

[Mrs Vampire]

So here is the Dakin Report in its original form.

The final report held by the Australian War Memorial is missing all of the deleted and preliminary notes in this version.
The AWM being the difficult folk that they are will not put their version online so it is doubly unhelpful. Their version has some interesting and useful attachments including part of the Australian Standard (E) for paint..unfortunately the paint chipset book has been removed at some point.

This version held in Sydney by the National Archives is complete but without the attachments held by the AWM. The Sydney set also come with an extensive photo collection of the work done by the Camo Lab and many of the shots used in their brochures and pamphlets.

Search National Archives of Australia advanced search bar code 1855480 will lead to the PDF

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Searc...=1855480&T=PDF

[Mrs Vampire]

Some more recent discoveries.

I purchased Mike Starmers book that included a chip of deep Bronze Green No 24 and compared it with the base coat of Green on the Stuart.
The exercise confirms the Tank was exported from the Berwick plant painted British Deep Bronze Green 24 . The next coat up being Khaki J and a later disruptive coat of Light stone N.
I have an original pristine sample of the interior Off White that i will have spectrographed.
The interior of the fuel tank bays and under all of the top armor is Light Green etch primer. Looks very much like the etch primer colour I have seen on P-40 Ms and Ns ( earlier P-40 being a darker shade)
The engine mount is clearly Olive Drab 9 and compare well with the sample .

[Mrs Vampire]

I also was kindly sent a paint chip matched by Jacques

My opinion is that it is a good match with the 1942 Khaki Green J paint chip.

I understand from Jacques' letter his CMP is late production Australian Ford CMP . He indicated that means late 1944 early 1945.

Both GMH and Ford were using 1942 Khaki Green J until the end of production to a lesser or greater extent.

All parts and assemblies made before Dec 1944 would be the 1942 colour. Things like sump protection pans, fan shrouds, brackets ,seats and so on would all have been the early colour and in my experience were that colour on NOS parts sold after the war.

The manufactures and subies had a lot of it , they were going to use it and they were not inclined to respray parts already painted.

The decision to move to Australian KG3 was made in Nov 1944 ( off the top of my head ) That decision meant any vehicles deployed overseas would be repainted the darker colour and I suppose, but have no proof yet, the specification for new production vehicles would have been changed.

The order for mainland vehicles being more generally repainted was more an early 1945 order and as I indicated earlier was one where eggshell gloss applied to the north of Australia and overseas and full gloss to Vehicles that were unlikely to be in a "War" zone.

The manufacturers appear to have simply over sprayed vehicles as they came off the line and incorporated the new colour in a transitional way so I would suppose many would have KG3 on most everything but Khaki J on things that would require dismantlement to repaint.

That poses a quandary for the restorer as one might find Khaki J on the tops of chassis rails or under lap joints when the vehicle was essentially painted KG3 all over from the factory.

The archival evidence is that the time from issuing an order in respect of colour change to it being implemented was long and inconsistent. Given production of CMP ceased very shortly after the KG3 order was issued I think very very few vehicles wold have departed the factory entirely in that colour and none without some remnant parts being Khaki J

I think most vehicles that were KG3 would have been painted that colour by Army engineering depots and re-fitment workshops.

Because of that I think the restorer is best to select the period the vehicle represents and go with the scheme for that time unless more complete and compelling evidence is found to support the original external paint scheme.

My experience is that the KG3 fades to a colour that is hard to distinguish from faded Khaki J ...and given they are both from the same basic formula and tinted and toned to the final colour, that's not surprising .
The Gloss level Jacques achieved with the "Flatted" sample supplied me is a little higher gloss than eggshell . It looks like it is closer to 10% ( maybe 7 or 8%) eggshell being around 2-3% .
A complicating factor is that Khaki J was toned down towards the end of 1942 and again in mid 1943 making it closer and closer to KG3

I think of all the pragmatic choices, gloss level is the biggest. The flatter the look the higher the maintenance and respray interval. I am a dead flat person but The vehicles I have seen painted eggshell look grand .

[Mike K]

I read somewhere that there was a shortage of yellow pigment in certain areas , a yellow tint is needed for the making of the khaki green .

I have a 1939 GMH made chev cab, it has a little tag on the cab that looks to be there from new stating, "this vehicle is finished in synthetic enamel" I will take a pic of the tag

[Mrs Vampire]

look forward to seeing that Mike.

Synthetic most likely refers to Alkyd enamel

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I have a 1939 GMH made chev cab, it has a little tag on the cab that looks to be there from new stating, "this vehicle is finished in synthetic enamel"

Maybe there is a 'naturally occuring, organic' enamel somewhere. That's one drilling rig I wouldn't wanna work on.

Seriously, it may be Yellow Ochre tinter. That seems to feature in most vehicles I painted over the years. Even if it was in trace amounts, sometimes.