m38 a 1 chassis paint

[repelado]

[b]Dear forum people from Argentina My question is the following: What type of paint were the chassis and general elements of the m38a1 painted with, thank you[/b]

[wesk]

Frame was black.

Body and engine was OD2430.

19 years ago Ryan Miller posted these:

Ryan Miller
G-First Lieutenant
Joined: 04 Aug 2003
Posts: 657
Location: Kansas/ Texas

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:11 am Post subject:
Maybe someday we will be able to get some factory info on this as it has come up often. There are differing opinions and I am not sure what the general consensus is.

While I am no expert here is what I have found and have discussed with others:

OD:
engine, accelerator pedal bracket, bell housing, transmission/transfer case, axles, fenders, firewall, hood, oil dipstick tube, intake manifold, pulleys (except generator), battery box, frame, air intake crossover tube, headlight buckets, grill, air cleaner precleaner cap. Horn also, but have heard it might have been black.

Black:
starter, generator, voltage regulator (with red lettering), air cleaner (with yellow lettering), starter, fan blade, radiator and support rods, oil filter and bracket, horn bracket

Flat yellow oxide:
Steering box and brake master cylinder

Natural finish:
fuel/vacuum pump, carburator, bolts and oil dipstick (cad, zinc), exhaust manifold

Copper plated:
fuel lines, brake lines, vent lines
_________________
Ryan Miller
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[Kendall]

Wes,
Ryan said the frame was OD but you are saying black. So since 19 years ago there is documentation that frames from the factory were black?

[repelado]

Thank you very much for your answers but my curiosity is focused on what type of paint is used, I am referring more to its chemical composition. Thank you very much.

[wesk]

That answer is in TT-C-595 dated 1950. This was superseded in about 1956 but if you want correct military standard date for Willys Army contracted production from 1950 thru 55 you must locate a copy of this document.

I have not yet found a copy of TT-C-595 other than small excerpts. An alternative is to use the first issue of FS-595 Dtd 1956 and find the closest color to what you want to use and use it's pigmentation codes found in that manual.

[RonD2]

Thank you very much for your answers but my curiosity is focused on what type of paint is used, I am referring more to its chemical composition. Thank you very much.

Could be mistaken, but he seems to be asking about "type of paint" rather than correct color.

Could be mistaken (again), but weren't they all painted from the factory with enamel no matter the color?

Good luck finding the chemical composition formula for 1950-vintage enamel paints.
Probably just as hard to find a copy of a 1950 government spec.

Could be mistaken (yet again) but think TT-C-595 is for color and sheen, not the chemical composition or type of paint.

[wesk]

The pigment contents for each color are broken down in the federal standards.
Military painters are well aware of the correct data sources for correct mixing of paint chemicals and pigmentation requirements. The entire purpose of the 595 series of pubs is to help the user select the appropriate paint code. Those of us that decide to mix our own paints will simply have to unearth and study the appropriate military painting manuals. The 595 cards point us to a selected color code and we deliver the card and/or the code to our painter who knows the next step.

Here's a 1988 edition of TM 43-0139 How to Paint Army equipment & vehicles. I prefer to use these later manuals for paint mixing instructions because the available paint materials we have today are more likely to be covered in the more modern manuals.

http://manuals.chudov.com/Camo-Paint-Manual.pdf

Here's another nice info web site: https://www.militarytrader.com/mv-101/p ... nd-do-nots

Bottom line it is much simpler to go to the paint shop with your color card from the 595 manual and let the paint shop folks do their job.

[repelado]

Thank you very much for all the answers. And yes, my intention is to know the chemical composition of the paint that covered the chassis and the lower part of the body. I will take it to a workshop like. They tell me my vehicle is from the year 62. In Argentina, 129 new ones were bought in that year to the United States For now I see that many parts of my chassis still have the original paint and I also see that it is a very resistant type of paint compared to what is known today as epoxy. In any case, it is very common to paint with a type of paint called synthetic that is not very resistant well I will see how I continue again Thank you very much

[4x4M38]

According to Ryan’s book the 1950-52 M38’s were finish coated with synthetic enamel by Willys Overland.

Hopefully someone can confirm the M38A1’s circa his vehicle were also painted with synthetic enamel.

[wesk]

Synthetic was not a good term to use when discussing 1950's and 1960's paint. Using that adjective leads people to think there was non-synthetic which is false. All the paints used then were synthetic man made. The industry definition of synthetic paint makes it quite clear that the other choice was also man made synthetic/natural compounds.

The term synthetic paints refers to common paints made from petrochemicals and the term natural paints refers to less common paints made from eco-friendly natural materials*. Subcategories: Solvent-phase - indicates paints that thin with organic solvent, and • Water-phase - indicates paints that are diluted with water.

The eco-friendly "NATURAL" paints referred to above came much later in our history.

A better choice of words for that page 33 one that Ryan used is simply lacquer and enamel. Ryan makes much more important comments about the paint variations on pages 193 and 194.