Info needed: correct colours for WWII Aust vehicles

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Richard, That's fine. I posted because :
1. The ACIs are probably not that common.
2. Gina may not have had access to them.
3. Because the British paint standards would have had an influence on
Australian Paint considerations.
4. Because much of it is gibberish to me and although I have little
understanding, it seemed the you had over simplified the information in
ACI 1160.
5. How these Army Council Instructions affected the Australian Military I
don't know, but these instructions were certainly not anecdotal. They were
the the law as far as the British Army went. Orders are orders, and
contrary to what some might suggest, Commanders did not ignore orders
by a whim.
6. Knowing the basics of how the British paint system worked would help the
overall understanding, for not just me but many others that say nothing.
here.
E.g what does a Cat. No. xxxx mean? What is a C.S.?

I was of the mis guided impression That S.C.C referred to an actual paint, not just a colour. This then means (to me) that the paint would have varied much more with time, weather, u.v. etc because the components required to arrive at a colour can be many.

I have followed this thread with interest, but much of it is like reading radio posts when you have no idea about them.

Gina, I aplogise for hijacking your thread.

OK, thanks Lynn,
I thought we were going off on a tangent and did not wish to hijack the thread. The way I have understood the UK situation was that although Army Council Instructions were issued, it often states that existing stocks of the old paint are to be exhausted before the new colour is used. There would be factories with a large stock of a particular colour and still turning out vehicles in the earlier colour, until they have run out of it. So if you are going by dates of ACI's with colour changes, they were not embodied straight away, there would have been a huge waste of unused paint if that happened.

To answer your question 6, Cat. No. refers to Vocabulary Catalogue number, or to put it plainly, the stock number to demand by. HA is the prefix for paint.

SCC was a range of camouflage colours introduced, not just for vehicles, but for buildings, etc as well.
If I can find the time I can expand on ACI 1160, but a lot to do this weekend.

cheers Richard