RE: [MV] Help - Paint for Jeeps

From: John Hutterer (john.hutterer@deltec.com)
Date: Wed Apr 11 2001 - 06:34:20 PDT


Rikk,

I've mentioned this before, but... I have seen vehicles painted with a
"custom" color of OD that was a combination of gloss OD and gloss black, to
give it "depth". The same vehicle had gloss white lug nuts on it and gloss
white stars and USA numbers. The vehicle belonged to a Transportation
Company in Vietnam and the Commander allowed his drivers to paint their
trucks any way they wanted to (within reason, I suppose) in order to instill
some esprit de corps and a sense of pride in the equipment that they were
driving. Of course, this question also brings up the thought of Gun Trucks
and the "nose art" that was painted on them. Very little of that was OD! In
fact, the ones that I saw were almost always painted flat black. I'm
virtually certain that "Iron Butterfly" was painted flat black, with a very
colorful logo on both sides. I'm not advocating the idea that we should all
paint our vehicles whatever color we feel like, but a little difference in
shade from one vehicle to another doesn't seem unreasonable at all. Anyone
who was in the military back in the 60's and 70's would remember that you
could walk out into any Motor Pool and find at least a half dozen shades of
OD on the vehicles that were parked there. Although a vehicle that is
totally restored and painted to be "parade ready" is a pretty sight, it
probably doesn't reflect reality very much.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Rikk Rogers [mailto:rkltd@swbell.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 8:07 AM
To: mil-veh@mil-veh.org
Subject: Re: [MV] Help - Paint for Jeeps

Also consider GIs in the field.
"Its gotta be green, and not just green, but OD green!"
How many GIs mixing paint just matched up to their shirt?

Rikk Rogers - RK Lion LTD.
(580)762-3157 rkltd@swbell.net
http://home.swbell.net/rkltd/
-M35A2- MVPA -22345-

-----Original Message-----
From: Military Vehicles Mailing List [mailto:mil-veh@mil-veh.org]On
Behalf Of John K. Seidts
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 7:43 AM
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: Re: [MV] Help - Paint for Jeeps

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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