WW2 British & Commonwealth vehicle restoration colours

[LarryH57]

IMBS but it seems to me that the default color applied to most of the vehicles being restored on here is green, when in fact many vehicles were produced during the mid war period in SCC No 2 brown. So am I missing something here or are owners just going for green without realising?

[Maurice]

I usually search for history under the civvy paint , from all my vehicles my C15 had factory olive drab with outside overpainted beown . my Royal enfield CO was brown as well , but all my other canadian & British vehicles where in different shades of olive drab , so they went in these collors again .

[Adrian Barrell]

I think SCC2 is not a popular choice these days.

[thedawnpatrol]

Larry

 

i think you will find if you dig deep enough through the past threads on here that a few of us have strived to research the right colours, i think 10 years ago, you may be right, but there is so much more knowledge on the subject these days that it is possible to pick out a year date between 1939 - 1945 and find the correct colours and camo scheme to apply.

Mike Starmers excellent booklet is a gold mine of info, i have certainly been grateful for Mike's help in finding the right colours for my vehicles.

 

Jules

[eddy8men]

like maurice said the original paint is always still there under all the post war layers. my mk1 canadian carrier was dark olive drab underneath the top coats, having said that when we stripped the paint on laurens charioteer it revealed just under coat so i assume it had been blasted by the israeli's when it was captured by them. all that history gone !

[REME 245]

As others have said discussed many times before.

 

Indeed the instruction to change the colour to British Olive drab in 1944 specifically instructs units only to repaint their vehicles when required.

 

You try and find some brown canvas as well used during the period. None of the suppliers would manufacture anything in it when I tried some years ago but hopefully things have changed.

[LarryH57]

Interesting comments; Jules I have met you at Beltring and seen the work you did on the Fordson Radar Truck, so I know you researched your colours well, as does Tony Corbin who posts on here concerning the Fordson(s) he owns.

 

As for Canadian vehicles, Mike Starmer suggests as do other sources that these were produced in near enough matches of UK painting colours and changed around the same time as the British Army changed its colour schemes, so if you sand down to the base colour of a British or Canadian vehicle and find the ORIGINAL colour (not applied by a Post war Army) and use that as the match for a re-spray you can't get better than that.

 

Still I'm sure many thousand were in SCC 2 brown, so it does make you think why some from that period being restored now are painted in a colour nearer SCC 15 Olive Drab.

 

It sort of backs up Adrian's assertion that SCC2 is not a popular choice these days (with or without black or very dark brown so called Micky Mouse ear camo)?

[simon king]

You try and find some brown canvas as well used during the period. None of the suppliers would manufacture anything in it when I tried some years ago but hopefully things have changed.

 

Nothing has changed unfortunately. Not in the UK anyway.

 

It's OD or sand but no brown as per the original Humber sidescreens that I have, which is what was wanted for my trailer.

 

I do get fed up of explaining why the colours aren't the same

 

although in a black and white photo they do look the same - another reason perhaps why we see so few SCC2 vehicles

Edited April 26, 2016 by simon king

[fv1609]

Looking in MTP. No.46 1939 basic colour KG 3, dark areas DG 4

 

MTP N0.46 1942 England & N.Europe basic colour SSC 2 or KG 3, the dark areas SCC 1A

 

Was black actually used very much or is that B&W photos just suggest it may have been black?

[Lauren Child]

like maurice said the original paint is always still there under all the post war layers. my mk1 canadian carrier was dark olive drab underneath the top coats, having said that when we stripped the paint on laurens charioteer it revealed just under coat so i assume it had been blasted by the israeli's when it was captured by them. all that history gone !

 

I think it was just the ravages of time coupled with the blow over she was given to sell her. There are some photo's on the net of her on the Isle of Wight before being painted which show her numbers.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Lauren Child

[79x100]

I questioned my Dad on this (he went from Normandy to Schleswig Holstein via Belgium and Holland with Air Formation Signals attached to the Canadians) and he is quite firm in saying that 'most' of the British and Canadian stuff in NW Europe was brown.

 

I suspect that most people 'see' green in b/w photos and don't question further.

 

Goose-dropping grey-green KG No.3 made way for dried cow-turd SCC No.2 ...it's perhaps not surprising that a nice olive drab is preferred.

[Lauren Child]

I questioned my Dad on this (he went from Normandy to Schleswig Holstein via Belgium and Holland with Air Formation Signals attached to the Canadians) and he is quite firm in saying that 'most' of the British and Canadian stuff in NW Europe was brown.

 

I suspect that most people 'see' green in b/w photos and don't question further.

 

Goose-dropping grey-green KG No.3 made way for dried cow-turd SCC No.2 ...it's perhaps not surprising that a nice olive drab is preferred.

 

I found some references to this, if I remember correctly, when I was looking into the Churchill Crocodile flamethrower. Most of the Churchill's were noted as brown/camo, while the Croc's were based on the new mk vii and were green. I can't remember where I read it now.

[Chris_Collins]

For this very reason My Tilly is going to be SCC2 brown with disruptive SCC14 (probably foliage pattern), and upside down or slanted stars, gas paint and all the nuances that make it British. All the jeep jockeys down in the Atipodes tent to opt for an Olive Drab, and it should drive them bonkers! Can't wait!

 

Already plotting a 15 cwt truck in Caunter or Malta pattern as a future project.

 

Also in reference to brown canvas, i note that Soldier of Fortune supply reproduction british tentage in a rich reddish brown colour, so it must be widely available now.

[Richard Farrant]

As others have said discussed many times before.

 

Indeed the instruction to change the colour to British Olive drab in 1944 specifically instructs units only to repaint their vehicles when required.

 

You try and find some brown canvas as well used during the period. None of the suppliers would manufacture anything in it when I tried some years ago but hopefully things have changed.

 

Hi Neil,

If you remember back a few years ago, you asked me if I could get a canvas made for your Carrier, as I was having other items made in Brown canvas. I sent you a sample to confirm colour. The colour canvas was readily available from suppliers. You had the canvas cover and others had their brown items and everyone agreed it was OK. It is a question of looking for it.

[LarryH57]

Regarding Clive's comment on whether Black was used over SCC2 Brown, I have a copy of rare colour movie taken when King George VI visited Malvern TRE in 1945 and the escorting staff car is in Brown with Black camo on all upper surfaces.

Edited April 27, 2016 by LarryH57

[REME 245]

Hi Neil,

If you remember back a few years ago, you asked me if I could get a canvas made for your Carrier, as I was having other items made in Brown canvas. I sent you a sample to confirm colour. The colour canvas was readily available from suppliers. You had the canvas cover and others had their brown items and everyone agreed it was OK. It is a question of looking for it.

 

I still have it and will be using it as a turret cover for my Daimler DAC rather than the Carrier Cover it was originally made for.

You can source it and supply it to your preferred cover manufacturer but just a pity they don't offer the option themselves.

[Baz48]

Reference colours of British Army vehicles, years back when I and two friends bought and restored a Scammell. Rubbing it down we found mostly green olive drab and post war gloss green but below the lot we found a brown sprayed finish and hand painted black camouflage, the brown being easily matched to a supply on the shelf at the IWM stores acquired and applied with a black over pattern and still in those colours today

[simon king]

Hi Neil,

If you remember back a few years ago, you asked me if I could get a canvas made for your Carrier, as I was having other items made in Brown canvas. I sent you a sample to confirm colour. The colour canvas was readily available from suppliers. You had the canvas cover and others had their brown items and everyone agreed it was OK. It is a question of looking for it.

 

Richard

 

can you suggest a supplier? Nobody I tried could supply it.

 

thanks

[Richard Farrant]

Richard

 

can you suggest a supplier? Nobody I tried could supply it.

 

thanks

 

Hi Simon,

PM sent