Painting of Brens

[tom]

I'm pretty sure we have covered this topic in a old thread but having seen some stuff on a reenactors site I thought I'd revive it here , mainly since a lot of my info is stll trapped on a drive I, er, well formatted.

I know that Army Council Instruction 536 of 1942 allowed the painting of Bodies, butt slides etc with Paint Khaki green No. 3 or Paint, prepared for use,black dead, Catalogue No. HA 0206 "when conditions do not permit rebrowning" and that the painting of the bipod was sanctioned in 1941.

But when and with what were Brens factory painted and what and from when were the various anti rusting schemes? It would really help the restoration projects I have piling up to know.

I think Mk 3 Bren bodies where painted from March 1945 onwards as I have a note of a amendment from the DD(E) that changed the finish instructions.

I saw some odd things on tose reenactor sites, like suncronite being easy to remove and celulose based... I must be doing something wrong as I've always found it a pig to remove and you used meths to thin it?

Anyone have a link to the old thread?

ATB

Tom

[britplumber]

Sunchorite is still in use, its a very heavily oil based paint which when dried is a flippin mare to get off, it does take a long time to harden, and when its fully hard its past its best!

The NSN for Black Sunchorite (for 1 litre) is 6850-99-2248265

Theres also clear sunchorite which is good for covering stencils.

[tom]

Clear eh? Now that would be handy stuff (if you don't mind the comic death effects if you go near the stuff).

By the by does anyone have the stencil/s for the "7.62" that we had on the side of our L4s?

ATB

Tom

[britplumber]

Are they straight forward stencils? I cant remember. I have alot of different sizes at work which are of normal Capital, straight edge type that clip together to form words or strings of numbers.

[jumpinghat]

Renovated a Mk 1 last year... was in very poor condition... now looks much better! As near as, the paintwork is similar to the Brens in the Airborne Museum in Aldershot. Used a hard wearing engine casing paint in matt/satin worked a treat, if a little costly..... !

[jumpinghat]

For those interested.

The product used is called FAST BLACK - sold in the UK but manufactured in the USA - and withstands high temperatures (good job for those of you with a 'live' Bren)

When I have a little more time will take some photos and post on the sight.

[Kev]

By chance I have just bought some myself (Fast Black) from a motor cycle dealer.Hope we have some sun over the weekend so I can give it a try