Weird A1 paint Job

[m151tx]

Hi Guys.

Well I finished the mid 70's masked camo job on the A1 that my buddy had in Germany.

Its a pretty close copy of the photographs but is a lot more vivid, the pictures were old and somewhat faded. Its a lot more work masking the pattern rather than marking and spraying, will be a while before I do this again !

Here are some pics, only got the radiator etc and a NOS wiring loom to fit and she will be wrapped up.

Hope you like the pics.

Mark

[k8icu]

Nice job....You worked to hard... The fun of painting cammo is free handing it and getting a nice ruff overspray...lol. That's what's missing from your wonderful paint job to me is the over spray that gives the jeep that warm fuzzy look and helps break up the lines. Remember an A1 would not have come from the factory with the 4 color cammo on it. It would have been done either in the unit motor pool or possible at direct support or depot mantainence....and would have been over sprayed. I'm not knocking your job just stating personal preferrence.

Oh one other thing... your rear tires need to be painted field drab (brown). If you look at the pattern the brown would be extending down into the area of the tires. I posted the four color pattern on here a while back with the colors filled in.

[TrueXena]

I think it looks great. I hope the guy who asked for it to be done this way expresses his appreciation for your hard work. I like an over-spray look personally, but if this is what the guy likes then give it to him, he'll be very happy. Great job.

[m151tx]

Hi.

I kinda like the feathered look myself but this is copied directly from period photographs of a buddies 151 when he was a company commander in Germany, its very close to the 4 color pattern in the TM.

Interestingly in my files I have a lot of pictures of vehicles from when the army first switched from 24087 to the 4 color pattern, it seems like most of motor pool paint jobs were done with paint brushes. A lot of company motorpools etc did not have spray equipment or access to spray cans at the time so you do see a lot of mid 70's schemes with the hard demarcation lines that were not redone till they had a depot rebuild etc.

I have some pictures somewhere of 151's in an experimental camo that was being looked at when the army was considering the change from 4 color, its really cool, problem was it was so hard to apply and maintain so the 3 color was adopted.

As for the wheels I tend not to do the variation in wheel colors as it allows me to rotate wheels when necessary or swap them between vehicles in a pinch, just makes life a little easier.

Thanks for the comments though

Mark

[salt6]

I can remember painting 113's with a brush in the mid 70s.

[raymond]

I used to work with a guy that said they painted every vehicle in the motorpool with a brush before a big inspection. He said some of the jeeps probably had 8 coats of brushed paint on them.

[baios]

nice work!!!!Hey the tires is Firestone 700X16 NDCC and anyone knows a dealer in europe?

[kb0jyl]

Nice job!! Looks like really nice.

[homerguy]

amazing job,Mark! That is a disgustingly clean tub,was it NOS replacement?

[m151tx]

Nope, just a little bit of work to get it that way

[rickf]

amazing job,Mark! That is a disgustingly clean tub,was it NOS replacement?

Where are these NOS replacement tubs people are talking about? There is no tub per say since it is a unibody so therfor you are looking at a new vehicle minus drivetrain.
Rick

[raymond]

Rick

I wondered the same thing. Growler used to sell the uni body, and maybe still does. Perhaps that is what people are talking about. Without a lot of work, they are pretty easy to spot though.

[m151tx]

Hi Guys.

I have only ever seen 1 A1 NOS unibody to my knowledge and it was completed with almost completely NOS parts (its in a collection in Florida now).

Over the years I have seen a number of NOS A2 unibodies (I have had one) that came out of DRMO where they had been supplied to the military as spares (parts were transferred over from damaged vehicles), in addition a number were sold when AMG closed the doors on the MUTT production.

10 years ago a friend of mine had a stack of three in the crates, I know he wished he still had them but I got to have one so I am not complaining too much.

As you say there have been a number of copies over the years but they are real easy to spot.

Mark

[moose53]

I figure my mutt was one of those, dataplate and all the components are consistent with a 1971 Ford M151A2, but the tub is a mid 70's AMG. It only had a couple layers of paint, so I think it was one of those early A2's that had been damaged somehow, and rather than repair the damage it was more expedient to transfer the parts to a new tub. I've heard it only took like a half day to swap everything over....

Jim

[m151tx]

HI Guys.

Finally got the A1 finished today and went for a test drive. Apart from a little weeping from a brake hardline connector she seems to be pretty good.

Here are a couple of pics with the 60 and radios mounted.

Mark