1299 - PAINTING OF CANVAS COVERS AND HOODS OF VEHICLES

1.  In future, the only paints used for spraying or brushing canvas covers and hoods of vehicles will be paint, camouflage, bituminous emulsion.  The following colours will be used:

    (a)  For the top of hoods and the dark part of pattern at sides:
            Catalogue No. HA6188 S.C.C. No.1A, or failing that
            Catalogue No. HA6184 S.C.C. No.14

    (b)  For restoring the basic khaki colour of the sides of faded hoods:
            Catalouge No.HA6194 S.C.C. No.2

2.  Military Training Pamphlet No.46 Part IVA "Painting of Vehicles" will be shortly issued giving patterns for painting vehicles and their hoods.

3.  The whole of the upturned surfaces of hoods will in future be painted with the dark colour, standard camouflage colour No.1A, or failing that, standard camouflage colour No.14

4.  Routine Order (Overseas) 1121 is hereby cancelled

The overall vehicle colour was now to be Standard Camouflage Colour No.2 (SCC No.2), a dark brown .  Disruptive patterning was done in SCC 14 Black or SCC No.1A, a very dark chocolate brown which we saw earlier as a dark pattern for canvas covers or tarps in conjuction with SCC No.7.  The distruptive pattens for the sides of the vehicle laid down in MTP 20 were still used, but now the entire upper surface of the vehicle was finished in the dark shade..
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The reason the basic colour was changed from and overall green to an overall brown was due to a chronic shortage of chromic oxide, the chemical that made green paint, well, green.  Stocks were reserved for the aircraft industry.   Two things are important to remember.  Not all vehicles were finished in a disruptive pattern paint scheme and it was forbidden to repaint vehicles merely to comply with new regulations on vehicle painting.  Vehicles were repainted only after major overhaul or before moving to another theatre of operations that required a different paint scheme.
 
 
 
 
 

This photo shows a group of 30-cwt office trucks and a 15-cwt water trailer from HQ, 1st Canadian Corps "Somewhere in England" in the spring of 1942.  Note the use of a third colour, perhaps white, in addition to the overall colour and the disruptive pattern.  Early in the war, MTP 20 allowed for the use of a third colour
 
 
 

Ram Mk II tanks of the British Columbia Dragoons (9th Canadian Armoured Regiment), part of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division., England, 25 May, 1943.  A colour version of this photo shows the finish could be SCC 2/1A.
 
 
 
 
 

Universal Carrier Mk.I's of Le Regiment de Maisonneuve training in the UK, Spring 1941 showing the bold disruptive patterning typical of carriers.
 
 
 
 

GMC Otter Light Reconnaissance Car of the Royal Montreal Regiment (?) crossing a Small Box Girder Bridge, somewhere in the UK, Spring 1942.