CDN M151 Colors

[r.morrison]

Gentlemen: Hope everyone's in good health. Now I am going to wander into the "quicksand" of Military vehicle questions....Paint Colors!. I had a local gentleman purchase some militaria from me a while ago. He informed me that he had recently purchased an American 151. He would like to do it up in Canadian colors etc. Is there a quick, fast and dirty off the shelf color(s) he could use or any reference. I don't want to make a mountain out of this. Just trying to do the gentleman a favour.
Cheers....Robert

[Wayne Hingley]

Hi Robert. This is probably the most comprehensive discussion about that subject on MLU.

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...lor+camouflage

[r.morrison]

Whoa Wayne.....you're right! Having been a Commercial Painting Contractor for over forty years, choosing paint colors is like going on a suicide mission. Many many years ago, a number of local boys approached me about making paint (gallons, quarts and spray bombs). I was all for it.....until I went on the MLU Forum. As you have just shown me Wayne....walk away! And this was when gallons of paint and spray bombs (rattle cans) were cheap!. There was a place here that would make spray bombs for $5.00 plus the paint. For me that was $35.00 and you'd get 40 spray cans from a gallon. Any colour you want. You do the math!!
The easiest way is if you can get a sample of the original colour (untouched by the sun) and formulate your product from there. Once you have that, you can put in virtually into most products available and end up wth the same colour!
I may not know alot about vehicle mechanics....but paint and colours are my specialty!!
Well not sure what to do here as I am completely lost with all these colour codes.
Wayne.....throw me a rope, I think I'm drowning!

Cheers all.....Robert

[rob love]

The basic colours can be ordered from RAPCO and others and shipped up to the border. Use the FS codes that are referred to elsewhere on MLU.

I used to use tremclad flat black for the camo. But they changed their formula and the usual xylene just curdles when added to the paint in order to try and spray it. Acetone will work as the reducer. However, tremclad now costs more than the Gillespie ordered from Rapco.

For hardener, I have been using Krylon farm and implement catalyst. Amazon is kind of pricey. I found it at Peavy mart for $20 a can.

[Wayne Hingley]

I agree with Rob, and that is what I used on my M38A1CDN2 in 2017 and the paint is holding up well. The RAPCO option is straight forward.
Rob's post #31 in the thread linked above has all the required paint codes. The camouflage pattern is also shown in the linked thread (post 23), and is same for M151 trucks. Hope that helps.

[rob love]

The Canadian Olive is always the hardest to find of the 3 colors. At one point, the description on the Cdn Catalogue of material started referring to it as FS34084, which is used on US aircraft but not vehicles. As such, RAPCO doesn't carry that color. When I talked to RAPCO at one of the conventions, he indicated he could have any FS made up as long as it was a 50 gallon order. I do go through a lot of paint, but I don't think I will live long enough to go through 50 gallons of one color.

An order like that would basically amount to $3000 Canadian before shipping and tax. Not outrageous but not for me.

Tempto Aerosplace lists the colour in a variety of formulas. No idea of their price, but it's a Cdn company out of Toronto. https://tempo-aerospace.com/colour-g...dstd595-34084/

[Ed Storey]

Hopefully it is a M151A2 that he wishes to 'do up in Canadian colours' and not one of the earlier models. When first purchased in 1974 the Canadian M151A2s looked like any other American vehicle at the time as they lacked the roll-cage were in semi-gloss OD.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Ed.

When the M151’s first arrived here in Winnipeg at Kapyong Barracks, I recall them all lined up in a very odd, but interesting, light tan, rusty red and brownish cameo pattern with no roll cages. They sat there for quite a while until they all got reworked into the typical Canadian colours and were fitted with cages.

Would the original camo scheme been a short lived Canadian idea, or would these vehicles have been in a US paint scheme and drawn from available US Storage to fill the Canadian M151 order?

David

[Ed Storey]

Too bad you don't have a photograph of the M151's, as that was a uniquely Western Canada vehicle camouflage.

[r.morrison]

Hi all: many many Thanks for the input. I think that's enough. I will send the correspondence to my "friend" and see if that helps him out. Wayne, I don't know if you can pull this off. If you have any of that CDN2 paint left over, could you make me some large dry samples and mail it to me. I can have them matched. With all the little sprayers about, from air to electric to battery operated, he won't need to make spray bombs. Those cost a fortune to make now a days.
Once again, kind regards to all.

Cheers...Robert

[David Dunlop]

Damn!


I wish I had known that at the time, Ed.

Documentation for it has probably long gone out of the system by now as well.


David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Hopefully it is a M151A2 that he wishes to 'do up in Canadian colours' and not one of the earlier models. When first purchased in 1974 the Canadian M151A2s looked like any other American vehicle at the time as they lacked the roll-cage were in semi-gloss OD.

See some inspiration for Canadian M151, M151A1 and M151A2 on my archived web page which Ed supplied info and photos for: https://www.mapleleafup.nl/fordm151/m151cdn.htm
Colours range from plain white to semi-gloss OD or the camouflage scheme, depending the type and period.

[Ed Storey]

Something that must be remembered and close attention paid to is that the various models of M151 vehicles used by Canada with the UNEF in the Middle East and the ICCS in Vietnam were vehicles supplied by the Americans for those specific missions.

The Canadian military only used the M151A2, and that was in both Germany and Canada. The vehicles were originally supplied in semi-gloss OD before eventually being camouflage painted.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by r.morrison

Hi all: many many Thanks for the input. I think that's enough. I will send the correspondence to my "friend" and see if that helps him out. Wayne, I don't know if you can pull this off. If you have any of that CDN2 paint left over, could you make me some large dry samples and mail it to me. I can have them matched. With all the little sprayers about, from air to electric to battery operated, he won't need to make spray bombs. Those cost a fortune to make now a days.
Once again, kind regards to all.

Cheers...Robert

Robert: I have searched for leftover cans of the RAPCO/Gillespie paint I used on my CDN2, but unfortunately no luck finding any leftovers. Too much time has passed. Perhaps there is someone local in your area who has a vehicle you can get color-matching from... Sorry, wish I could help.

[maple_leaf_eh]

When Dave and I were planning the rebuild of my '74 Pattern, we got deep into the paint choices.

We agreed the top coat was going to be 'green', and what was underneath was less important. He had some high-build two-part epoxy light brown primer from work that was leftover from a customer contract. That deal included date stamped materials provided by the customer, and when the job was delivered, they didn't want the primer back. It was just getting old in the paint locker. Lucky for us, but he said it was a brute to apply and he had to find some huge aperture paint nozzle for his spray gun. When applied the man has to work with a purpose because it can cure in the gun. The medium fills tiny sanding swirls and grinding imperfections. I'm happy.

The underneath is black antirust paint and paintable rubberized undercoating. Not factory specification, but the old expression applies, 'they don't make'em like they used to'. Unprotected steel and moisture will rust over in a heartbeat. We chose black because there was a lot available and less than half the price of green. And, unless someone is looking closely, they'd never notice the colour change.

My go-to green paint is green ultra flat spray cans from Canadian Tire. Since the shutdowns there are fewer places selling the Krylon camouflage product line. And I get a few cans whenever I see it.