Last in the list is NATO Green paint in an aerosol can

[LarryH57]

Back in the day, when WPR was still going, I used to see NATO Green matt paint in an aerosol can on various stalls.

But it seems now there are many suppliers, who say its 'Nato Green' but it isnt

So can anyone suggest a supplier on the web that can post some to me?

[sirhc]

NATO Green is BS381C shade 285. It will be slightly different wherever you get it from. If you want to match your vehicle find a local automotive paint supplier and take them an easily removable part for them to match it to. They can all supply aerosols.

[fv1609]

28 minutes ago, LarryH57 said:

So can anyone suggest a supplier on the web that can post some to me?

Marcus Glenn every time not cheap but consistent quality. Just ordered some more, thanks for reminding me.

Some of the discount shops are now selling quite cheaply what they call "NATO Green". It is an extraordinary colour that bears no resemblance to NATO Green of any nation..   .

 

[ruxy]

Ex Solihull - the  NATO 285 was more or less full lusterless and IIRC they used Trimite and was quite colourfast  , if your LWT was originally  285  - have a look behind your seat backrest squabs , the paint will probably be original.      The  re-finish 285  when in service  was made by several firms but was 285 IRR  (brushing or spraying) - as you will be aware it had a bad reputation for being colourfast. Even fresh applied there was a difference to the original  LR colour finish.   I normally brush paint  wheels  with Tractol  'machinery enamel'  - first coat with  RAL 6003  in Drab Olive  (as ground coat) & top-coat same but NATO Green (at max. matting which is a sort of satin) - best to second coat a few shade distance.. It's impossible to replicate a full lusterless finish at realistic  £.  I will soon be removing paint from a winterised heater + window demister nozzles etc. I normally use a DeVilbiss  JGA (was the industry standard gun) but I want to test myself with a smaller Anest Iwata that I now think is still too large.   Winterised stuff - following the above wheel procedure, but on a grey oxide primer / undercoat.    Spraying vehicle panels , I have always used cellulose for DBG or a Fleet type enamel (polyurathane reinforced).  I hope to spray a Rover 10 + a LWT this summer but will be having a re-think in total - the Solvent Regs. changed things a little.I may consult a local paint maker , specialist in aircraft refinish - however they have changed hands and may no longer assist, previously known as Dufay Titaine & they were a supplier of  285  NG (IRR)  along with other paints to the MOD.

[fv1609]

14 hours ago, fv1609 said:

Some of the discount shops are now selling quite cheaply what they call "NATO Green". .

This is picture of it having been sprayed onto a plastic box. In contrast the dull green ladder it sits on is a fairly true representation of British NATO Green. I was rather misled by the colour of the plastic cap, but you can't expect too much for £2 a can.

[LarryH57]

Clive, I have some very similar spray paint, which if compared to the original Nato Green looks to have more grey in it.

Edited March 31 by LarryH57

[fv1609]

Yes needs to be more grey, that stuff in the £2 can looks more like a Forest Green.

[10FM68]

Ha!  I bought an aerosol of 'Colour-It' NATO Green.  It was EXACTLY, the right shade.  Thrilled to find it, I bought half a dozen more, larger cans, this time.  All hopeless - as Clive says, closer to Forest Green.  So, suspecting the larger cans were a duff batch, I went back to the original supplier of the smaller can, hoping to match my original - no such luck that too was 'Forest Green'. 

So I rang them up and had a long chat with a very nice woman on the other end who was apparently very interested to know that there can be more than one NATO green, that there is a BS number for the' British one' and that, if they could get the shade right, there would be quite a market among the military vehicle fraternity who are in dire need of a reliable, cheap, touch-up type aerosol.

She said she would certainly pass the information on to the paint mixing team and see what could be done.  Clearly, that was NOTHING!   

And I have 6 large cans and two small ones waiting for an opportunity to be used on something which needs to be green, but not any sort of military green! 

Don't be tempted by the one, from another supplier - can't remember who - labelled 'camouflage green' either.  It has a top closely resembling NATO green but certainly isn't.  Oh!  And don't try 'Paints R Us' they can't match different batches of their own paint either....  Best advice?  take a piece of the original you want matched to a reputable paint mixer and get them to make you up a batch and buy enough for the whole job!  

[fv1609]

My experience with specialist paint suppliers is not good. Although I was not on this occasion after a BSC381C paint, I wanted to match up a shade of the green used on my Shorland when issued to the RUC in 1966. I managed to lift a large area of paintwork revealing the original colour on a front wing.

So off I went with the whole wing to a paint supply company who boast that they can reproduce colours used on classic cars built in the 1950s and 60s. But they were not interested in my sample; the conversation went like this:

Me “Can you mix me a paint to match this?”
Him “I only need to know the year and model of the car?”
Me “I don’t think that would help you, this is for a vehicle with a limited production”
Him “All cars have a paint code or paint name. It is in the parts book, don’t you have the parts book?”
Me “Yes, I do but it is not in there, it just covers parts.”
Him “Look I’m just trying to help you, unless you want to tell me the paint code, I can’t mix it.”

So, I found another paint specialist that had been recommended to me. They gave me a shade guide and suggested I should match it to my sample. They expected me to do this indoors under artificial lighting, after some fuss I was allowed to take the shade guide outside. What seemed to be a close match was a major disappointment when I got it home and allowed a sample to dry and worse still it was a cellulose based paint which is not what I asked for. So that was a complete waste of time and money consulting the professionals.

In the end I mixed my own paint with small samples judging the match after it had dried. In the end I made a concoction from B&Q Appleyard Green, Brunswick Green, Dark Admiralty Grey and black.

When I bought my Wolf the owner who was a perfectionist felt that the Land Rover interpretation of NATO Green was a little different from what normally was used in service. He made up a mix of OD with tractor grey. The colour seems good enough, although rather strange under artificial light.

I have recently had to respray sections with Marcus Glenn NATO Green which I feel is very close to the tins I have of genuine ex-MOD paint. There is a slight difference, but even in service sections repainted with paint from different batches & different contractors was never going to be a perfect match. But hey I have seen many pictures of the doors of in-service Rovers where nobody could be arsed to paint it at all! It was just the original manufacturer's black, just imagine the tut-tutting turning up at a show with an unpainted door!

[ruxy]

The gas used by paint factors for their self-fill will be CO2  ,  more own fill folowing the Solvent Regs because IIRC the more potent gas  butane/propane fill was banned - hence any DIY type paint mixer was able to step-n with CO2.  It stands to reason the better automotive type paints being used also ceased.  Basically you need a 'hot' thinner such as xylene or cellulose to melt & weld the new coat onto the original substrate paint or new primer with a good 'lock-on'.  Modern aerosols do seem to give a better fan-spray than of old , however you are not getting the top quality ingredients of a proper automotive paint .  A full matt lacks the gloss resin , automotive paint they use a 'matting base' which is basically a milky white varnish.  You can only expect a durable anti-knock finish from quality ingredients & colour retention etc. from quality supply who should be able to provide swatches.   B&Q type paint mix scheme only of use if you wish the paint for inside/outside of a house - actually the better canners of alkyd & water based for ezterior in recent years they claim 15 years , no longer 10 years for re-paint time.     Better car single pack types can be obtained near to what I consider NATO 285 / IRR (when fresh)  , but you need to choose between satin & eggshell if they claim it is matt ,  satin should last as long as gloss .  Lorry cabs up to abt.  1980 used to be refinished in what was known as Fleet enamel , polurathane reinforced and sprayed looked as good as a brush applied & varnished coach-paint.  The chassis was done most often in a shade of red using a cheaper enamel ,  sold under a few trade names (e.g. Tractol)  - the clue was always assurance that it was fuel resistant when through dry.  The Fleet enamel stoof up well for years of using chemical/pressure wash , the chassis paint about 1/2 the distance.   The £cheap colour finish for trailers etc.  (glam job prior to plating)  - that was in fact a modified bitumen paint. I don't like to see such as Land Rovers re-painted with 'coach-paint'  such as Tekaloid , show tractors look truly awfull and that is even if the unwary have not applied the top-varnish.  After Solvent Regs.  it's still possible to obtain a acceptable solid colour cellulose finish using Standard cele. thinner & the ability to rub off runs / blemishes & compound to a gloss if you wish.  NG  - it hardly matters.  A solid colour to high gloss such as  DBG  - that depends if you can hands on a good gloss thinner,  the secret of  "gloss from the gun"  is the thinner not the paint (assuming quality cele. in f1rst instance)..

[LarryH57]

I just received a supply of Matt NATO Green from Marcus Glenn, and I am pleased with the colour match. He is an MVT member and MVCG before that, so I think he appreciates the problems with 'Pound Shop NATO Green '

[fv1609]

Yes funnily enough my 6 cans from MG arrived today as well.

[10FM68]

13 hours ago, fv1609 said:

My experience with specialist paint suppliers is not good.

I went to a company in the trading estate at Johnstown - so not far away.  They were excellent - very keen to get the shade right - did the assessing in the open air, careful with the matting agent and I was pleased with the product - both in the aerosol and the tin.  I'd use them again, but, I fear, the Lightweight will be sold this year as I can't drive it anymore.

[fv1609]

8 hours ago, 10FM68 said:

but, I fear, the Lightweight will be sold this year as I can't drive it anymore.

Oh heck that's a blow for you. Is that driving anything or just due to the restrictions of layout in the LtWt?

[paul connor]

I agree with Clive for sure with Marcus Glenn paint. I have painted a lot of things Nato green now and their paint does seem to stay consistent and not vary too much. I did use other suppliers once or twice and ended up with a Land Rover looking like a children's green toy!  It is the same issue with olive drab as well!

When you find a paint supplier who can supply the right shade works stick with them, as it is very disappointing spraying a great finish only to find the product dries and looks ridiculous.

[10FM68]

13 hours ago, fv1609 said:

Oh heck that's a blow for you. Is that driving anything or just due to the restrictions of layout in the LtWt?

Thanks Clive, I don't know yet, I hope to be able to drive an automatic or a car where it is possible to move the right foot from the throttle to the foot brake without lifting it off the floor, if the doctors agree, but anything else will not be possible.  

[fv1609]

That's rather tedious to put it mildly. There is no LR section at Builth this year, everyone has jumped ship to attend the LRM Show at Malvern. Not decided yet but it chokes me to pay to enter a vehicle, not the done thing!

[LarryH57]

The very last thing I need to go with my NATO green paint for my Lwt, is some Union Flag stickers, as the ones on my vehicle are perhaps 40 years old and rather faded. Who supplies these, as I havent seen any since the original WP shows at Beltring.

[ruxy]

Ebay  -  uk military vehicle stickers , located at Yeovil  ,   I think it is Matt Black who now sells on Ebay under different handles for some unknown reason(s)

[fv1609]

Not strictly necessary Larry, a national identifier was only intended to be displayed in a NATO role that has two or more member countries.

But if you really want them Colin Voss has been successfully selling repro stickers for years:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256329309129

[ruxy]

Check your vehicle history - any Scottish regiments  ?   ,  don't know about Wolf XD days but with Series  - often the Union flag was superimposed with the Saltire - I have one.

[LarryH57]

Clive, when I bought the Lwt about 20 years ago, it had these Union Flag stickers already in place but luckily the previous owner from sometime after it was cast in 1991, had old photos of it which he shared with me

I have therefore sudied these again today, and in its cast condition, the flags were not present!

I have never noticed. I thought Union Flag stickers were standard for most British Army Land Rovers!

Edited April 8 by LarryH57

[fv1609]

Larry yes sometimes I think less is more. It is no coincidence that sellers of stickers do a roaring trade! I don't doubt that these are based on original stickers in certain theatres & certain roles, but not all at the same time. I like the serenity of minimalistic markings, but sometimes sticker craziness leads the vehicle to resemble a carnival float.

[LarryH57]

I have decided to remove the faded union flag stickers as they were obviously applied after the Lwt was cast, by 7th Para RHA. I think plain and simple and realistic is probably best.

I'm therefore having second thoughts about fitting an extra red NATO tow hook on the front bumper, a front ammo box and the '58 Webbing, attached to the side and every wing, plus get rid of the idea of 3 metre wip aerials with union flags attached from the wings and side of the tilt, like so many realistic vehicles I see at MV shows.

The Pegasus emblem on a maroon background was taken off years ago, but were Lwts ever used by Easy Company, of 506th PIR, of the 101st Div? 

[paul connor]

LarryH57 - the Lightweights were only used by the 506th, 101st Div in a bridge-laying role and with the mine clearing CRAB flail. But I might be wrong! 😅

A friend and forum member once said to me "the more aerials you see the less chance there is of an actual radio being installed within the vehicle" - which I think is very true.

While in the past when I was new to the hobby I have added some now questionable items to vehicles but now I do prefer them to appear as they would in service. My Wolf only has the stickers it was cast with on the body, which I shall replace when it is repainted.

I did once run a local show back in the UK, I shall not say where for fear of offending the person in the story, but there was yearly a Willy Jeep entered by a chap. This man would arrive and lay a canvas over the whole vehicle and pile items all over it; it resembled a stall/jumble sale yet this was his actual display. He would get increasingly angry over the weekend as people would grasp and raise items from the 'display' and ask what the price was🤣

Edited April 10 by paul connor