[Milsurplus] Army Green Painting

[Michael D. Harmon]

I thought I'd pass along something that I've discovered through 
experimentation.

I had an LS-166/U speaker that had been repainted flat black and looked 
awful.

I discovered that 91% isopropyl alcohol and a little scrubbing would 
remove the sprayed-on flat black paint without
removing the baked-on factory OD green paint, however, there were areas 
where the original finish was gone.  I sanded the
enclosure with 400 and then 600 sandpaper until the surface was smooth 
and the edges of the missing paint were
feathered out.  Now, what to paint it with?

I went looking for paint to match the original OD color as closely as 
possible.  Rustoleum Camouflage #1919 Deep Forest
Green was almost a perfect match.  There was only one problem.  The 
Rustoleum paint is extremely flat so as to be non-reflecting.
The paint used on Army comm gear has a little bit of a satin finish.  I 
decided to try painting the speaker case with the Camo paint
first, and then using a clear coat of Krylon Satin Crystal Clear over 
the flat camo paint.

I was delighted with the results!  The color is almost a dead-ringer 
match, and there's just enough sheen from the Krylon satin clear
coat to make the resulting finish look almost exactly like the factory 
green finish.

Any of you who need to repaint a piece of Army comm gear should try 
this.  Use a small piece at first to see if you like the results before
stripping down a piece of vintage gear.

Mike, WB0LDJ
mharmon at att.net