John T. loaned me his tin of original gas detection paint so that I could obtain a sample. It was almost as thick as putty with about 3/4" of what I guess is linseed oil floating on top, and took quite a bit of stirring with my home made paddle in my cordless drill to get it to a thick uniform consistency to be able to paint a swatch.....It probably needs thinning, but as I have no idea if cellulose thinners would work, I didn't want to risk it. It's the same tin that my G3 headlamp patch was painted from many years ago and is a nice rich mustard colour. Ron

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email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hi Ron

Someone told me that adding thinners causes the gas reaction, perhaps one of your bikes would look good in a post gas attack finish?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

But I don't think there was any such thing in WW2 Rob? Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Nice Ron, but not correct for a 1940 bike, those still had the canary yellow gas detection paint, and changed in 1941? It was too suspicious, and changed to the colour you used now. Have the same tin as you used, but still looking for an original of the earlier colour.

Cheers,

Lex

Ron, my tins of gas paint came back from Normandy so now you have painted your bike with it you clearly have an original D Day bike. I would be interested to know if anyone has seen a tin of the earlier paint? Are we sure that it is not simply the effect of nearly 80 years of exposure to sun light that has caused the mustard colour paint to turn yellow? JT

I didn't paint my G3 headlamp John. Steve M. did it many years ago when he was the owner of the bike....It came from your tin though I think. But I like it. I won't use it on the BEF WD/C that I'm restoring for Ben. He'll have to find some of that Gay Canary stuff that Lex likes. Ron:heart_eyes:

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

There's no question about the canary yellow paint being used, JT's tin is marked No.2,(I have the same can) so the No.1 was the yellow, have several original painted parts, and it's still yellow!












There's also an American colour, that is more greenish.





Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbiXX.net (think about it!!)

American gas paint a radioactive looking green, I wondered what this m21 had been painted with-eBay item number:282880907899

for the tan gas paint a near enough colour match is going in the model shop and finding what is amusing called skin tone, its a light tan colour paint used on model kits for painting people, i compared it to some original gas paint and its a near match.

They even used it on aircraft as seen here on the pilot's head armour in a Lancaster bomber. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

and on the wing of a Spitfire. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

It's been rumoured that the yellow roundels on planes, outside the red/white/blue RAF insignia was gas paint too, but not sure about that?

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbiXX.net (think about it!!)

There are various sources that say the tops of post boxes were painted with gas detector paint but I'm yet to see any evidence.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

Rob, now that you mention it, there was also a civvy version of the paint, white colour, have seen a bike in the 80's that was found in a collapsed shed, and the handlebars, headlamp etc. were covered in a thick white paint, the owner said it was used during the Blitz, and was gas detection paint. was a civvy bike, cannot remember the make, too long ago!

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbiXX.net (think about it!!)

Well it was common to paint white edges on vehicles to help be seen during blackouts, and white gas detection paint would double as both.

Ron

According to this it WAS painted on pillar boxes and other purpose made poles, but it was yellow/green.

http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s-gas.htm

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

As Lex has quoted and evidenced, early war Gas-detector paint was a very yellow colour................this persisted until at least 1943-44.....

By the time of D-Day, the detector paint was a far more practical khaki colour.............having used the original stuff, it's fair to say with due accord given to age and storage, that the original paint was very thick in consistency and stank to high-heaven !!!! I can also state that it fades in use VERY quickly to a light-brown colour...........it also seems to still work too.........back in 2004 in Normandy I got stuck behind a particularly smoky diesel vehicle................before dying under the haze of fumes, I did notice the detector paint on my headlamp taking on a rather nice pale purple tinge, although in fairness at that point I was heading towards unconsciousness and that had nothing to do with the pint or so of Cassis that I had consumed at various venues beforehand..............

And now that you bring it up.
Pigments fade, or change colours over time, regardless of weather they are in the can or on a bike.
Up untill the early 60's when we went to vegetable pigments that faded on your paint brush most pigments were metallic oxides in various valance states.
The one we are all familiar with is lead which comes Red, Yellow & White.
Only one state will be stable at room temperature so thy will try to achieve stability, pinching electrons ( or spitting the odd one out ) and as they do so they change colours.

So even a brand spanking new can of WWII paint recovered from an abandoned & forgotten bunker can not be guaranteed to be the exact colour that it was designed to be in 1940

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

I can confirm the original paint will react to various thinners...Mine changed to an orange/red colour in cellulose thinners...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

This is from a MAINTENANCE GUIDE "B" VEHICLES 1944,paragraph 86/87.

Ever seen anything like this?

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I think I know who the seller is (Weymouth?) He seems to know what he's talking about and has other interesting stuff at reasonable prices.

I can't remember ever seeing one before? But a rubber squeegee does seem an odd think to apply thick paint!

According to the instructions posted by Steve, we all need one to smear the stuff over our front mudguards :scream: Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

There were bundles of those tools on ebay for a while, they could be for cleaning mustard gas of contaminated vehicles/people?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

What should be the correct late war collorcode?
I have found RAL1040 or RAL8001 close to the original color.
But what should be the correct color?

email (option): s.b.bathoorn@home.nl

I've got a tin of the late war green gas paint...I prefer the 'mustard' coloured one though and have used that so far....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I had a tin of the wartime US gas detection paint. It took quite a bit of stirring, but it eventually mixed up just fine. I used it to paint the upper headlights on the two M20s I owned, and the inner area around the "invasion star" on my WW2 Jeep.(As seen in color photos taken at the time of D-Day) The star emblem had been sprayed onto the O.D paint of the hood using a stencil, using plain flat white Rustoleum paint. I found that if I touched the white paint with the gas paint, it turned a bright pink! I ended up having to paint the whole hood again, being very careful to stay away from the white paint of the star emblem.

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email (option): welbike@welbi**.net