L42A1 Transit Chest Colour

[waco16]

Thanks for everyones replies - it would be great if you could get a colour swatch match of the paint on your chest, jmoore - I want to repaint mine as the previous German owner has really gone to town on it with a colour and stencilling that is just so wrong.....

Skiprat - its interesting what you say about the silver primer - my chest has two corner capping plates missing so I removed one to use as a pattern to get some made and found almost gloss silver paint underneath it.

If anyone is interested I'm looking at getting a batch of these capping plates made - punched and plated as the originals - even down to the punced countersunk holes.

If anyone thats interesed can let me know if they want any, and quantities, the more I can get done the cheaper they will be...

[Peter Laidler]

PM sent re corner plates and burned fingers Waco.........

[jmoore]

Slow am I?

Having dramas with the photo hosting site, but here's some preliminary comparartive photos with an old Federal Standard selection:



In certain conditions, FS 34079 seems a good match, but not at all angles:



34096 (the number is lost in the glare) seems better:



But on the "fancy" chest, the paint is less flat and matches the FS 2xxxx level of sheen better. In this case FS 24079 seems good:



The last chest is more matte than the "fancy" example, so FS 34079 looks good:



I'm guessing that since the first chest is not only a little different in color but is also of non-standard construction in addition to being heavily used, the paint can also be considered "field expedient" or just a slightly different batch. Interesting how the higher level of sheen makes example two seem darker.

There's about 60 or 70 photos to crop and winnow out, but maybe this won't be alogether too late to be of use.

[waco16]

Thats brilliant - and a great help.
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post the images

I was at a militaria fair a couple of weeks ago and picked up a can of matt NATO issue paint.
After carefully removing a layer of paint from the chest I was able to get down to some of the original. It seems to match pretty well and to the samples you have posted.
Its going to be a project over the Christmas break.

At the same fair I was lucky enough to find an original IWS transit case (minus contents) for the princely sum of £5!

Thanks again

[jmoore]

Just note that the match from a distance might not be spot on. (Reference the first photo in Post #13.) This is just some preliminary work. It took a long time to find the old FS test fan thingie, and attention has been elsewhere, lately. Need to try some differing lighting conditions, etc.

(In a fit of madness I'm down to two L42a1s, so the oddball crate will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. It's gonna be expensive getting it back, methinks!)

[Peter Laidler]

Can I just say chaps that the dozy blanket stackers that formed the Arms storemen didn't bother too much about the ACTUAL colour code, believe me. Nor it seems do the MT drivers who paint their vehicles with what looks like any available matt khaki and a shaving brush.