[Milsurplus] MS Connector Shell color

[J. Forster]

Re-Keying can be done with a small saw or jewler's file, although removing the
spring ring is ot always trivial. I think the brown inserts were also WW II or
shortly thereafter. (it's the 'natural' color for the Bakelite). The blue is
definitely later and may be a different material (Diallyl phthlate?)

-John


WA5CAB at cs.com wrote:

> John,
>
> I got together an AN/APN-1 connector set for someone a few years ago.  The
> main problem I encountered was that the AN310x connectors used include several
> alternate key locations, and in the end I had to re-key standard ones.  The
> only difference in the nomenclature is a suffix letter (X, Y, Z, etc.).  The
> standard keying also has a suffix letter but it was normally omitted when they
> stamped the nomenclature on the connector body.
>
> One other vintage related thing that I forgot to mention earlier is that
> around the same time that the other changes were implemented, the color (and
> material) of the plastic inserts also changed.  The WW-II stuff and production
> into the mid-50's had black bakelite inserts (both Cannon and Amphenol).
> After the nomenclature prefix change, most Amphenol ones are blue and most
> Cannon ones are tan.  I say most, because if someone ordered enough of them,
> I'm sure they would have supplied any color you wanted.
>
> And BTW, if you get to making up connectors from other connectors, you can't
> mix and match Cannon and Amphenol parts.  The assembled connectors are
> interchangable but the piece parts are not.
>
> In a message dated 8/21/2004 11:40:52 AM Central Daylight Time, jfor at quik.com
> writes:
>
>> I do't think the current matte finish is the same as WW II. AFAIK, some in
>> WW II
>> were plain Aluminum, some pale green-yellow (iridite?) the came the
>> Astroplate
>> (60's?) and the dark OD. I want stuff to match AN/APN-1 and AN/APN-2 stuff
>> which
>> used the MS-310x,,,,, .
>