Re: [MV] Help - Paint for Jeeps

From: Steve Malikoff (MIL-VEH account) (44gpw@phaedra.apana.org.au)
Date: Wed Apr 11 2001 - 06:20:00 PDT


Although I applaud the heroic efforts of those who go to such incredible
lengths to match the shade and hue of wartime olive drab, there are at least
two other factors that also need to be considered.
One was that OD lightens merely by exposure to sunlight. It happened during
the war, and it's going to happen to your restoration.
The other is that dust, oil, grease and everything else is going to adhere
to the absolutely flat surface that OD is. This may darken, give the finish
a sheen, or both.
In preparation for ANZAC Day and other occasions I quite often give my
jeep a rubdown with an old sock and some Baby Oil. It gives it a spiffy
appearance, and I find it waterproofs and toughens the paint. After a
fortnight the jeep is back to its usual matt OD. Besides, you will not
get any complaints from the Diggers (vets) that they don't like the colour
of the jeep. And they're the ones I like to make happy and proud, afterall.

Basically, I'd go with the stuff you can buy that has a consistent colour
that you can go back and buy more of... there's nothing so bad as having
the exotic shade you bought become unavailable just when you have the last
few panels to paint! After all, the OD that you eventually get will I
gaurantee match exactly at least *one* of the 650,000-odd jeeps that were
built :)

Steve.
steven@phaedra.apana.org.au

On Wed, Apr 11, 2001 at 08:42:33AM -0400, John K. Seidts wrote:
> After having looked at several hundred pieces of NOS parts from different
> time periods during WWII, I am convinced that the colors we are being sold
> are not completely correct. Qualifying that, I don't believe that the 34087
> being sold was used exclusively to paint ALL WWII vehicles. I believe that
> in many cases, original paints were darker and lighter. I know that many
> people will disagree with this, but here are a few important points which I
> think should be considered.
>
> 1. Most (more than 50%) of the original parts I have in my posession right
> now are darker than
> the shade of OD being sold by Aervoe or Gillespie.
>
> 2. I have found too many original hidden panels on WWII trucks with a color
> much darker than the 34087 being sold right now.
>
> (now steel yourself for the next one, it's funny and serious at the same
> time)
>
> 3. This is a men's hobby (mostly), and a large percentage of men are color
> blind to varying degrees. Most color blindness effects our ability to
> discern finer shades of blues, greens and red's. I think this drives the OD
> green debates for the simple fact that most people who are mildly colorblind
> are not aware of the fact. This makes it difficult to objectively argue
> about original color. Recently, two good friends of mine were unable to
> distinguish various shades of OD- I could see differences of hue, and they
> could not. Both of them have very extensive experience in restoration and
> high degrees of technical expertise. Both of them said they are not
> colorblind.
>
> 4. As a corollary to the above, recently an acquaintance who is restoring a
> 1940 Indian Sport Scout took some NOS pieces (painted with the darker OD) to
> a computer matching place. The computer spit out a formula which was
> different from the formula for 34087, and the paint matched NOS pieces very
> well.
>
> I don't think this is going to be resolved by paint manufacturers, and I
> don't think we are going to objectively argue this out amongst ourselves.
>
> Comments?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: MVTrucker@aol.com <MVTrucker@aol.com>
> To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 6:52 AM
> Subject: Re: [MV] Help - Paint for Jeeps
>
>
> >John,
> >Although you said to contact you off List, I also need input on the
> subject.
> >When I undertook restoration of my 1945 MB, I was advised by Baxter
> >(Army Jeep Parts) that #319 was the correct color for 1945 model Jeeps.
> >Now, he advertises #319 as being up to 1944 and Rapco advertises it
> >for late, so what's the deal? I'm certainly not going to repaint my MB, but
> >I am interested in knowing what is correct.
> >Joe Young
> >www.joeyoung.com
> >See it at: http://hometown.aol.com/joeyounginc/page12.html
> >
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> >
> >
>
>
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