Sterling L2A3 Wrinkle Finish Paint

[Brian Dick]

I goofed on the company here in the USA that has the good quality crackle paint. It's Eastwood not Easton for all you do-it-yourselfers out there.

[lima]

Dead right Brian. Additionally, the crackle paint was painted over the phosphate finish. It was the same paint, made by TRIMITE, that was used on MGB dashboards if you're interested

Peter,
Would Trimite J136 (spec below) be about the same product as the original Sterling finish? Seems to be quite popular with speaker cabinet makers at the moment.

http://www.trimite.com/products/?air...ture-black&pdf

Do you happen to know if it was spray applied and baked or just air dried at the factory?

I am restoring some Police Carbines and would love to match the factory coating as much as possible.

Thank you,
Andrew

PS - I cherish my copy of GoD

[Peter Laidler]

I can't answer that Lima as we never used the crackle finish on our Sterling guns. But a quick email to Trimite would tell you. I'm pretty sure that the Sterling finish was an oven bake, as was the MG works dashboard finish

[Vincent]

VHT Wrinkle Plus Black High Temp Spray Paint is very close to the original paint,,, if you follow the instructions exactly.

I like TIGER Drylac black wrinkle powder coat. It's much more durable than paint. See pic below.

[lima]

I don't mean to revive a dead thread but have a bit to add to the story I forgot to post earlier.

I contacted the Trimite company to see if they could confirm if the current Trimite black crackle product (J136) is the same as what was used on Sterling commercial guns back in the day and if it could be used over fresh parkerizing.

Response from a friendly Trimite Internal Sales Manager:

"Unfortunately, J136 was not the product used for the applications described as it is for woodfinishing only, the products used were S70 Stoving Crackle finishes which were discontinued several years ago and we do not have raw materials to re-make, sorry I can't be more helpful."

[Peter Laidler]

The best finish I have seen is that shown on Vincents photo above. It appears to be just a tiny bit smoother than the original but pretty damn good. Or just get the gun casing beadblasted and phosphated (BDL in SC can do this) and get a local MGB restorer to crackle paint it afterwards. I'm sure that'll be just as durable after it's been in the oven

[lima]

I am afraid being "restricted" firearms in Canada (unlike the US), it would not be so easy have an outside shop work on my Mk4 Police Carbines for a proper MG powder coat. I have facilities for proper bead blasting and parkerizing at home which I have completed. As much as it pains me as a Sterling fan wanting to honor the original tradition, I think it best to finish mine with L2A3 type paint over the parkerizing. Results from a can can be inconsistient and I would hate to have to start over.

Attached is a picture of the casings after parkerizing. There is a curious thing in that all of the guns had identical discoloration striping on the end sof the mag well. My guess is that the induction brazing at the factory had the mag well heated to different temps at each end and the manganese adheres to the harder or softer metal differently showing different shades of gray. Another curious thing about these guns is that while they have <#200 serial numbers, some came with Mk III single shot marked trigger packs and features like early fixed front sights and early mag release buttons.

Attachment 25604

[browningautorifle]

You will find that parkerizing will show different colours with different heat tratments. Yes the brazing changes things. I think it adds to the character because it's part of the story. Others think it's plain unattractive. Your paint finish will make that go away of course. By the way, nice guns. Wish one was mine.

[Peter Laidler]

I would think that being early Mk4 (L2A3 type) single shot Police Carbine guns Sterling were using up the last of their Mk3 (L2A2 type) trigger mechanism assemblies. In fact, the FIRST Police Carbines were based on late Mk3 (L2A2) guns The later and 'naughty' Mk4 rock and roll trigger mechs are a direct fit. But you must promise to replace the full auto inner change lever with the existing neutered inner from your existing trigger mechs.

The same applies to the magazine catches buttons and adjustable foresights. I expect these are plentiful via the US and in parts kits

[lima]

But you must promise to replace the full auto inner change lever with the existing neutered inner from your existing trigger mechs.

Yes already have that covered, original semi change levers are hard to find, I do have one new original one in an original NIW MK6 trigger pack i was lucky to find. Using that as a pattern, I machined a new single shot change lever from scratch. It works just fine but I realized that modifying the FA ones is slightly easier. A bit metal in the right place held with high temp silver solder brazing does the job and then some quick parkerizing. Attached are pics of a few I modified.

After playing around with some various trigger frames, the one thing that I did not expect is that the triggers geometry is different (not just the finger shape) between the MkIII and MKIV triggers. The MkIV trigger does not want to sit nicely in a MkIII trigger frame with the sear cradle installed.