jpw

I had most of the things to hand including the lead white. I am lucky to have access to a wide variety of toxic compounds. However I'm sure that the internet could furnish you with the requirements. I had to make the patent driers from several other sources and the prussian blue as I had run out. The driers used was lead acetate based, but it's contribution to the paint is just an off white. This could be substituted with a similar colour pigment. The plan was to create a fresh colour that I could create a similar mix of non toxic pigments.

I thought this might be of interest. I recently started making some of the paints in the 1915 artificer handbook. The service colour for artillery pieces etc proved interesting. The shade depended not only on the original of some of the pigments but also the mixing style and dampness of them. The prussian blue in particular showed itself particularly susceptible to not dispersing in the oil media producing a fairly dull brown. However if it was dampened the classic khaki drab instantly was apparent. The picture below shows the difference from the same spatula of pigment mix. It just goes to show that the variations in production could be varied even with small preparation changes. Good job it was made by the hundredweight.

Seat post clamp left side . The a is on a separate line.

It's A 298155

I have been playing around with a few old roadster frames as part of an educational workshop on basic spannering . One frame that I have done up had khaki drab under what was left of the paint on the bottom bracket and inside the headstock. The paint on the bottom bracket had been heavily overcoated in gloss enamel. I know that this is not a standard military bike (MK 4, 5 etc) . It has a 24" frame with 28 inch wheels. I'd be interested to know what peoples thoughts were about its first incarnation in khaki.. I don't know whether branches of the service just bought non military pattern bikes in drab for just getting around bases or the suchlike. Please note that in the photos of the complete bike. only the frame, bars and forks are original. Everything else is from the parts bin and relatively recent. I have not painted over the interesting khaki bits. Kind regards, John

That's amazing. Thank you.

Thank you. Motorcycle artificer sounds like the step up that I was looking for equipment wise. I'll have a look at the book you recommend after I've finished Adventures of a despatch rider.

Are there any ww2 british motorcycle specific manuals? I seem only to be able to find the Harley ones from the US. It would be interesting to see the setup for field repair setups, beyond the tiny get you home toolkit. Kind regards John

Hi, Clive. Thank you for your insight. I'm looking at painting a ww2 motorcycle ( currently consists of rust, so there is nothing to save.) It make me feel better about my brush strokes in the paint and keeping the minor knocks and dents. Regards john

I have seen many lovingly restored vehicles and many period pictures of vehicles being repaired, But what I'd really like to know is how god the paint finish on the repaired or repainted parts was. My thinking is that with masses of parts being fixed up from active service (assuming they touched up knackered paintwork) was it neat? or was it patch it up bit rough around the edges with brush marks type job?. regards John

I have put this on the backburner.... sorry to waste your time reading this, but I can't work out how to delete the post. regards John