Pigs and paint

[Roland]

With my swiss friend I´ve a discussion about humber pigs and how to give em right colour. He want to paint his original Mk.1 with a three tone camouflage (green,black,brown).

 

As I know early pigs had usually gloss deep bronze green and got matt NATO-olive at later years (after 1970 I believe) . Some pigs get sand colour if they served at Malaysia or Cyprus. In Jochen Vollerts book we can find (black and white pictures) of a restored Mk.1 with blue/grey and black camouflage.

 

Every Mk.2 I saw before were painted in NATO-olive. Shortly I got a picture of a sad Mk.2 in unusual olive and black camo:

 

http://jeep.cfasp.de/upload/357932.jpg[/img]

 

This pig was sold to a Chinese and scrapped at once. He wants only metall :shake:

 

But a surprise was this picture with a turret pig. I don't know were I found it:

 

http://jeep.cfasp.de/upload/357934.jpg[/img]

 

Is that a free style paint job of the new owner or a regular army camo :dunno:

 

I told my friend he shouldn't´t do a mistake. The Mk.1 pig is a rare sight and it makes me laughing (or sad) if it got a camouflage paintjob of the 90th. Am I right or wrong ?

[paul connor]

Well with my memory.

 

Mk1 Pigs have had many colours, from sand if they have served in Malaya, and Camo from other fields as well as DB green.

 

Depending what Era and field you want to depict?

 

If its Northern Ireland Green olive and DB green for a MK1 poss camo, but this would have not lasted long as on a tour they would have been painted frequently due to the amount of paint bombs

 

A MK2 would only be in Olive green, The Stand off Kremlin turret pig would not have been camo, thats added after. Should be Olive green.

 

Hope this helps, MK 2 Pigs would have nothing on them, ie cam net and jerry cans and other items as this would be a fire risk. And painting a Pig Camo would be pointless as it has limited use off road.

 

Regards Paul

[fv1609]

Roland, don't be misled by the 3-colour camo on the Mk2, it is nonsense & so are some other features. Mk2 pig was only deployed in N.Ireland, there was no requirement to display a bridge plate let alone a number on it. It is true that a few Mk2 pigs did have a plate left on from their former Mk1 life. But they were not picked out by painting it any diffrerently from the rest of the vehicle, nor was a bridge classification marked. For this reason the Mk2 was never given a Bridge Classification, which is far more more complex than just its weight. But given the classification for a Mk1 is '6' I think the guess of '7' is rather low for such a heavy vehicle.

 

As for the Union Flag, pigs were not marked this way in N'Ireland. It served no purpose, the population was only too aware that these vehicles belonged to the British Army!

 

I have seen about 6 Mk2 pigs fitted with turrets from Shorland armoured car (they are similar turrets to a Ferret). This served the purpose of improved protection for an observer in rural settings & the removal turrets from Shorlands was tried as a way of downgrading the "tank" like appearance, which always looks bad in the media. The turreted pigs I have were paint in just NATO IRR Green & that's all. The mesh is to give a measure of protection against the RPG7 & was fitted to Saracens in Operation Kremlin II from May 1973 & later a few Pigs.

 

Interestingly when 12 BK 96 was a Mk1 it was sold of at Ruddington for £70 in 1968. But it was recovered in 1978 & made into a Mk2. This is much later than the main group of 200 which where recovered in 1972. I suspect it received the body of an already converted mk2 that had suffered damage to the chassis.