Gray paint on wood case????

[Edward Horton]

Thunderbox; Battleship Grey = RN?

I remember ships pistols being kept in a grey box of this identical colour. I think RN grey was made by mixing one part black and nine parts white; if that matches your transit chest then this might be a clue...

Going onto a quick thread hijack: Peter, did you ever see a transit chest in raw wood? This one is in poor condition, but does not appear to have been paint-stripped - there are not even the tiniest flecks of paint in the grain of the wood, just some surface dust. Interestingly, the chest carries a 1944 date stamped or branded into the wood.

I hate it when the British beat me to the answer in forums.....................

Time for a little history lesson to complement my visit to Lake Champlain Battery Park Yesterday

[KIMBO65]

HI, I WAS TOLD THAT A J PARKERS HAD LOADS OF THESE TRANSIT CHESTS YEARS AGO & THEY PAINTED THEM GREY???.I DON'T KNOW HOW TRUE THIS IS! . I'VE HAD 2 GREY TRANSIT CHEST IN THE PAST, BOTH THE SAME SHADE OF GREY.

[Nate]

My matching #4mk1T also had a grey chest. There must be something to this. I considered painting it the expected green but thought better of it and let it be.

[Alan de Enfield]

My 4T is Ex-RAF and is in a similar 'blue-tinted' grey case.

[OxfordAndy]

Alan, that is a great looking collection. One of the nicest I've seen.

But what is the small tin for?

[Peter Laidler]

I never saw a grey painted chest in service, they were all the usual kahki, or certainly various shades of it! Even the RAF stuff that used to come through our workshops in Malaya and Singapore was the usual kahki colour too although admittedly, only very few of them. In fact some of the old hands used to think that RAF stood for Rare As Fairies. But back to the plot!

I wouldn't mind betting that all the boxes started out as kahki. Can anyone with a shade of grey box confirm that there's kahki paint underneath the grey

[Alan de Enfield]

Oxford Andy - Apparently its a 'bren small parts tin' and was used to keep 'odds and sods' in (not an official part of the CES but a 'standard' extra in a 4T kit) and was used to hold a grenade pin & ring, extractor, screw and spring, compo tin opener, and a butt trap spring that could be used as a double ended screwdriver.

Info courtesy of "An Armourers Perspective"
Written by some guy who appently knows a bit about these things.

[newcastle]

I have an L42 chest with a dark dark green paint on the outside, and a paper label indicating the Abingdon location stores it came out of on top of it. The dark green is definitely not the issue khaki but it must have been done before it was released from the MOD and sold to Canada. Any ideas anybody?

[Peter Laidler]

ALL L42 chests were painted in the usual kahki matt paint but the armoury storeman has probably overpainted some earlier markings. You ought to get some acetate and slowly lift the paint, layer by layer. It's sometimes very interesting.

Where in Abingdon did yours come from?

[Thunderbox]

Peter,

Didn't L42 chests come new from the manufacturer painted in the gloss "bronze green" - the same as 1 Tonne Landrovers and other vehicles before they got their IRR paint ?

I have a new condition chest and its in the bronze green. My other L42 chests just seem to have been overpainted with the normal IRR matt green (less for one which is gloss black, marked to Manchester Police and altered to fit two Enforcers...).