Prior to the IRR paint, we used an Alkyd Enamel I believe. The NSNs were in the 8010-21-5XX-XXXX range. Around 1979 or so, the new paint, with an NSN of around 8010-21-880-9628,29,30 and 50 replaced the older paint. This was the IRR, again an enamel. I have an old EME journal that discusses the development of the paint with it's designer. Apparently, it mimics the reflectiveness of leaves to give it it's IR reflective qualities.
Around 1990, there were intiially NSNs issued for the CARC, which was soon replaced with US CARC I believe. If you google, you will find that the US CARC has now developed into a water based paint. The CARCs included a hardener which seemed to be the main health hazard. It was also as tough as nails. Applied properly, even paint stripper had difficulty removing it.
I guess when I say "normal" IRR, I am merely referring to the paint which was the most common to my service career. These days I guess you would refer to CARC as the normal army paint.
The older numbers are now obsolete. All military equipment is to be painted with CARC.
The Gillespir paint is suitable to replace the IRR or even the older enamel paints. Some of the colours are not a perfect match, but with a little bit of sunlight and dust, they fullfill the role. I normally pick mine up at the MVPA conventions when I go down, but I have also ordered pallets of it from RAPCO in texas which I would have delivered to just on the other side of the US?CAN border. By the time I got it across the border, it added up to around $47 a gallon, although with the depressed dollar right now I suspect the price will be higher.
I will talk to the Rapco guy this year to see if it's possible he could get Gillespie to mix up the Cdn colours, although I am unsure that the sales to Canada would warrant it.
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