Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

This is to set the record straight regarding an error I discovered this past weekend regarding information I has provided back in Post # 52.

In that earlier post I had identified the original paint inside my Coil, Aerial Tuning case as being an excellent example of No. 2 Brown. It is not.

Something compelled me to take the back cover off the coil case on the weekend and take it outside into the sunlight for a closer look. Surprise, surprise! It was not even close to being brown. Turns out to be a very original example of the flat Olive Drab (OD) Green Marconi was using on their 52-Set equipment.

To be certain, I brought my wooden 52-Set Tool Box to the patio and opened it up in the sunlight as well. When I placed the back cover from the coil case inside the Tool Box (which also has original paint inside it, the two colours were a perfect match.

The final, third test was to lug out the Spare Parts Box and open it up. It is lined inside with KimPak, however the visible woodwork inside also matched the OD Green on the other two items.

Happy with all that, I took the back cover from the coil case to our local RONA Store yesterday and had them scan it for matching in the paint shop. I now have one quart of paint available for refinishing both tool boxes.

If anyone is interested in the formula from RONA, it is as follows and was mixed with one quart of their SICO EVOLUTION 863-503, Base 3, in Eggshell Finish:


R 7
V 19
X 1 19 1
Y 1 3


One other observation I had on wartime paints over the weekend it that different finishes of the same colour, give differing visual results. The darkest colour appears to come from a flat finish. If the finish has a fine ‘wrinkle’ to it, the colour lightens. It lightens even more when the finish reaches a full wrinkle. I cannot help wonder if this effect is the result of light reflecting from all the different ridges, surfaces and angles on a true wrinkle finish?

David


NB: For some reason the first two colour codes are getting pushed to the first column. The '7' for R and the '19' for X should both be in the second column, directly above the other '19' and the '3'.