Paint for carrier - yet again

[Jim Burrill]

Hi Folks,

Paint has been on my mind recently. (and on my hands, clothes and inside the wife's washing machine..)

Essentially, I am looking for better resources for painting British/Canadian AFVs from inside North America.

Recently, I had occasion to paint Lance's Mk2 carrier. Before purchase, it had been pretty well scrubbed of paint with a needle gun. I discussed it with Lance on a colour and I wanted to try for the bronzy green I had seen during an Arnhem convoy about 4 years ago.

Several UK friends cited BS reference numbers, but no local paint shop could use them. Googling them was agreed by all to be fairly useless as the difference in monitor setting. Some site gave paint mixtures for Humbral and other European model paints but had trouble finding US shops that had them. (It's Testors over here!)

No US military surplus dealer carrier UK colors, at least none would admit to having a British CC15 or sounded like they had a clue what I was talking about.

Plan B..
When we painted the Humber Mk4, we took a color chip provided by the fellow who self-published the three books on British cammo for AFVs. Embarrassed to say I can't recall the name. He may be reading this.

We went to an auto paint seller and their color scanner couldn't read the flat finish of the sample. So we tried to match to an existing color card. Came so close that three of us went outside intot he sun to scruitinize it! found one, but it only came in gloss. But they sold cans of flattening agent. But we were on our own to determine how much to add.

ANyway, the Humber was spray painted.

While my wife was shopping for home paint, I saw a display for their industrial metal paints. Latex. Very skeptical,I pitched what I had in mind and the fellow checked some documentation online and said his stuff should work.
Water based and usual clean up, and temperature considerations. Based on their tested use for metal things like fences, garage doors, etc, it should stick and be durable on an AFV especially if we garaged it most of the year.

I had previously used some of the paint to redo ammo boxes and ration boxes and jerry cans, so I planed to use this on the next Vehicle project.
So Lance turns up with his Mk2....

I had a selection of paint chip cards from the various DIY paint departments and had marked which ones either matched original examples from my collection, or best guess from magazines and on-line. Took one that looked to my eye as the color of several carriers I had seen on that Arnheim trip.

Ok, got the special primer in light grey and applied that. Opened the green can and was shocked a bit. Int he store one of the helpers had put a dab on the sample card and dried it. I had taken a look and at first couldn't see where he had dabbed it. Ok, looks like my sample,but the wet paint was very "Bright". Figured it would darken down when dry. After painting the first coat, needed to go round two. Pics int he shop fluroesents and my iPhone made it look very yellowish. Needed more paint anyway, so wen tback with the can, the color chips and my phone with pics. Asked why it is so brighter than the paint sample.

Manager stepped in and she confirmed the computer mix based on a scan of the chip. said she would call their company product support folks and asked me to check back in a couple of days. No real reason, but suspicions that the grey primer was effecting the color coat. The chips are made without that primer and that may be why the paint looked brighter.

She and a technician tinkered with hand mixing the next batch. A good olivey color and darker than my swatch, but going over something lighter should be ok.

With a January field event we were planning on, I didn't have too much shop time before the temps would drop too low to work. I got the replacement coat on, and it was darker, but still "green" to my eye.

Oh, and all this is brush and roller applied! To spray the paint, Iwould need a special 3,200PSI compresser to use the HV spray guns. I had tried my old siphon spay rig I have used for years and the paint need so much water to atomize that it separates when it hits the metal.

So, when I go to start painting my Mk1 carrier, I want to try again for traditional enamel-oil-based auto paint.

While I have friends int he UK happy to send me some cans, the HAZMAT issue scotches that. Canada also has issues, but maybe I can hand transport a couple of gallons by car during a visit.

What paint vendors in Canada do you suggest? What is the current commercial name for the last brown color used on Mk1 carriers? While I am at it, what color would you use for a 44 made CMP softskin?