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When Olive Drab isn't Olive Drab


ajmac

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Thought I'd just bring this up. I have my Olive Drab to the correct BS298 (if memory serves) from a reputable industrial paint supplier, and it does look the same as many I have seen at shows. HOWEVER the paint I've uncovered on the Loyd in threes different locations of 4" square patches are rather darker and less 'olive'.... I quite understand that paint so old can have changed in colour etc, but it made me think. I imagine paint 'standardization' wasn't all that high on the agenda back in 1944. Any coments on original british applied paint that people have uncovered.

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I don't have much experience with wartime MV paint but I've seen a lot of WW2 RAF aircraft paint on bits of crashed aircraft. Weathering has an effect without a doubt but on sections that have received more than one coat of paint during their service life there are considerable variations in colour, particularly with Dark Earth paint and interior green. Dark Green paint doesn't seem to vary as widely but it does still vary.

 

Also I've done a fair bit with ex-WD Series 1 Land Rovers which appear to have been repainted about once every month (to keep the National Service boys busy, I guess). On top of their original Deep Bronze Green gloss there are as many different shades of Olive Drab as there are coats of paint - this is pre-NATO Green days. This might be due partly to lack of mixing of the paint.

 

Today, even with computer matching of paint, vehicle body shops STILL don't always get it right. You only have to look at cars on the road to see absolutely crap colour matches. I agree with Antarmike that it's possible that the paint you've got might not be correct.

 

I guess that paint variation was fairly normal back in wartime so we don't need to be too pedantic about having the "right" colour, within reason.

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Question - Was your Loyd painted in Olive Drab or Dark Green? They are both British wartime camouflage colours and were both applied to vehicles. It's possible your Loyd was painted in Dark Green, as was used on my WOA2, and not Olive Drab.

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Hello,

This is a problem i had when i started restoring my bedford. What would be the right colour to paint it? I think the problem is there were so may shades of a similar colour. I think the only way to get the original colour is find some of the original paint on the vehicle and have that copied. Thats the advice i was given and it worked well for me.

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Question - Was your Loyd painted in Olive Drab or Dark Green? They are both British wartime camouflage colours and were both applied to vehicles. It's possible your Loyd was painted in Dark Green, as was used on my WOA2, and not Olive Drab.

Oh, I didn't realise that, does anyone supply Dark Green or have a ref number, I can get a sample and see what turns out...

 

The Loyd only appears to have had two coats of colour in it's life, the Olive Drab (if that is what it is) is on the bottom layer on primer and on top of that is a light pea green colour, which I presume is the post war Belgian colour.

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The olive drab introduced in April 1944 was given the code SCC15 (standard camouflage colour). As Clive points out, though BS381 existed before the war, some codes and indeed colours of a particular code have changed over the years. I always understood that SCC15 became BS298 without change but I do not know for sure.

 

My Sherman colour looks different now than when I painted it in 2004, 65 years plus will have a large effect!

 

If you like the colour and it's close enough......

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Almost impossible to know what colour the loyd was originally three shades of Khaki drab existed 3, 5 and 7 with No 7 becoming the SCC15 colour "olive drab" as described by Adrian.

 

Post war colours when exposed to long term range weathering often look like pea green.

 

Steve

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Oh, I didn't realise that, does anyone supply Dark Green or have a ref number, I can get a sample and see what turns out...

 

The Loyd only appears to have had two coats of colour in it's life, the Olive Drab (if that is what it is) is on the bottom layer on primer and on top of that is a light pea green colour, which I presume is the post war Belgian colour.

 

I got my paint mixed up by Warpaint in 2005. They should still have my details and I have just found the paint chip and its called Green No7.

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Thanks everyone.

In a past life I built models, so I dug out a tin of Tamiya Olive Drab, would you believe it, it is a perfect match to the original Loyd colour! I am going to have the original matched I think, but I'll use up the 298 tin as an intermediate layer.

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There is so much that can affect the 'color' of a paint than the chemistry. How much you thin it, what do you thin it with, spray pattern, primer etc etc.

 

Run with what you are happy with... everyone claims to have 'accurate' OD paint. Can they all be right? :nut:

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2010 was a bit of a grey area for "non-compliant" automotive paints and sensible investment in new spray guns , for some paint manufacturing ceased but sales of "existing stock" remained legal , start of Jan 2011 - these sales are illegal. Unless for your canal boat or aircraft and there - low volume sales will inflate prices.. Some types of thinners will become unobtanium - time will tell about availability of "premium" gun-wash that could be handy leaving a flatter finish than that available with maximum base matting..

Possibly 2011 will see the end of this OD debate - and have to accept what colour(s) left available - who knows ??.

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