Enfield1940 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Hi, I'm considering restoring this 1940 dated MkII helmet that has been attacked with silver paint. I've photographed what appears to be the original paint in the interior, which is a yellowish/greenish brown colour. Could anyone confirm or deny my hypothesis that this is faded Khaki Green No.3 paint? I've read elsewhere that this is the sort of colour it goes when the green pigment fades. Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ww2rupert Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Hi, I'm considering restoring this 1940 dated MkII helmet that has been attacked with silver paint. I've photographed what appears to be the original paint in the interior, which is a yellowish/greenish brown colour. Could anyone confirm or deny my hypothesis that this is faded Khaki Green No.3 paint? I've read elsewhere that this is the sort of colour it goes when the green pigment fades. Thanks, Mark It's definitely brown, most early ones I've come across are brown and later on painted green, the green doesn't fade to that colour Hope this helps Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 I doubt that paint on the inside would fade all that much, I'd hazard a guess at SCC 2 maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchstick Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I have a one of these that appears to be originally painted black, 1941 dated iirc. not sure whether to get it re-done in green or brown but definitely want to change the liner at some point for a 6 7/8 from a 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1944 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 I have previously read somewhere that helmets were in fact painted kg3 but after a while oxidised and they turned to the brown colour most are seen, leading most to believe the helmets were painted service brown. the colour we know use for our BEF helmets are now kg3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Git Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) I'm not so sure there was ever an official paint colour with the nomenclature of KG3, there was a KG3 Blanco but not a paint colour of that name. At the outbreak of WWII most equipment was painted in one of the standards of Bronze Green (yes there was more than one variant of Bronze Green). However, with the onset of U Boat activity there was soe difficulty in obtaining certain pigmets for making paint and fro about 1940 onwards everything is standardised in SCC2 Brown, ALL new equipment manufactured after Dunkirk is painted SCC 2 Brown. This continued until early 1944 when "ACI 533. Camouflage. - War Equipment, etc. - Change in Basic Colour" stipulated: "I. Olive drab will be adopted as the basic camouflage colour for all army equipment, in lieu of Standard Camouflage Colour No. 2 (brown), and certain new equipments painted Olive Drab will shortly be received by units 2. An exception will be ade in the case of bridging equipments of British manufacture caontaining the word "Bailey" which will continue to be painted in Standard Camouflage Colour No. 2 to distinguish them from American made Bailey Bridges 3. This change will not authorize units,whose equipments, vehicles. etc. are alaready apinted Standard Camouflage Colour No. 2 (as the basic colour) to draw supplies of Olive Drab for re-painting until re-painting is due and necessary, and all stocks of Standard Camouflage Colour No.2, in unit or R.A.O.C. charge have been exhausted. 4. An A.C.I. detailing the catalogue and specification references for paint in Olive Drab will be issued in due course. " I believe this last referenced ACI was in fact 1100/44, although I don't have a copy of it to hand right now! It is also my understanding that priot to Dunkirk most, if not all, BEF helmets were painted Apple Green, which again is not anything near the colour of KG3 Blanco! Below is a rare, wartime colour photo of the Bailey Bridge across the River PO in Italy. You will see from this photo (and if like me you need visual assistance follow the link to the IWM website and use the tools there to zoom in on the pic) that the Bailey Bridge is indeed painted SCC 2 (brown). Compare this to the paint colouring of the helmet above! As for Oxidizing paint turning brown colour....well I leave that to your own sense of what's probable and what is not! BRITISH EIGHTH ARMY TROOPS CROSSING THE RIVER PO, BEYOND FERRARA, ITALY, 28 APRIL 1945. © IWM (TR 2852) IWM Non Commercial License Edited February 17, 2018 by Old Git Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGREDONE Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 BS381 499 Service brown no 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1944 Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, BIGREDONE said: BS381 499 Service brown no 2. Sorry don’t know why it tagged that quote to the top Edited February 18, 2018 by charlie1944 Added text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1944 Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 3 minutes ago, charlie1944 said: Sorry don’t know why it tagged that quote to the top Khaki green no3 (kg3) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enfield1940 Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 A long overdue update... My final judgement was that the helmet had originally been painted in smooth Khaki Green No.3 - partly inspired by the following 1939 and 1940 dated examples by the same maker: https://hatchfive.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/mkii-steel-helmet/ http://www.warstuff.com/Original-WWII-1940-FL-Mk2-BRITISH-Combat-Helmet-i927.htm Mike Starmer has published a relatively simple homebrew recipe for KG3 = five parts Humbrol 155 Olive Drab Matt to one part Humbrol 10 Service Brown Gloss. I made some up and here is the end result. It's an interesting colour - subtlely different to ordinary olive green. It can look quite brown in low light levels. The tendency for original KG3 to fade towards more of a brown colour has been discussed on here before: Cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 i now mix my own paints to make various shade of green as i have struggled to find exact matches to the vehicles original paint. mustard yellow and a reddish brown will give you a good place to start. don't put black in to darken it, just add more brown. you will be surprised how easy it is to get the exact shade you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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