*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
Brass stencils were sometimes used for marking vehicles. I have a set I was
given by a veteran who was a sign painter (RCAMC) who served overseas with
my Grandmother (she was a Major in in the RCAMC in Canada, England, and
Italy).
He explained that the letters/numbers slide together (side edges have
grooves). He would lay a chalkline along the side of the vehicle door, snap
it, then using the stencils with stencil paint (thick) and a stubby brush,
he would paint on the War Department number. Tricky... (I have detailed
notes on file that I made at the time I interviewed him). He showed me some
dense (closed cell) foam that he said also worked well for dabbing on the
paint. He still had all his painting kit but would not part with it. His
name is Doug Lunn. He also had a British made stencil of the RCAMC crest
with a unit name as part of it. Exquisite - to a military nut like me...
In North West Europe he had to paint a Scwimmwagon that the Canadians
liberated (from the Americans). When they went swimming in it, they had to
return to shore quickly due to a bullet hole below the water line. I have
his photos of it with the white stars.
He also had to paint a stolen jeep. As they were leaving Europe, a jeep
pulled up alongside and was hoisted onto the ship. He was ordered to paint
out the American (?) markings and he was ordered to put new markings on it.
I was told that my regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada had two
jeeps with the SAME War Department number on the hood (Hmmm... I wonder how
that happened?). The soldiers were advised to never park them next to each
other.
Colin Macgregor Stevens
Seaforth of C 1970-1977
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
& member B Coy 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion (Living History)
Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
1944 Willys MB
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
-----Original Message-----
From: Cougarjack@aol.com <Cougarjack@aol.com>
To: Military Vehicles List <mil-veh@uller.skylee.com>
Date: Monday, March 13, 2000 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] BRASS STENCILS (for use on MVs)
>*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
>Mike, and esteemed listers:
>The brass stencils were not really intended to do vehicles. They were for
>brush marking the shipping cartons and plywood placards that are used to
>identify equipment during unit movements.
>There was a set of marking tools that were issued, that contained a set of
>stencils, a long handled wood plane of sorts, that looked something like a
>very short block plane with a pivoting handle attached , (to remove old
>markings from the used wood crating materials) and a container of ink with
a
>roller. (brayer as it was called)
>Even the vehicles get plywood placards banded to them, indicating port of
>origin, port of destination, etc. Somewhere around here I have old photos
of
>my Viet Nam Air Cav unit moving out, and they show lines of vehicles all
>knocked down and placarded, ready for shipment via sea transport. To
stencil
>these, we were given stiff short brushes, that resemble shaving brushes.
>The ink came in a one quart paint can, like silkscreen ink, and it was
stiff,
> about like honey, and you used the roller to roll out a quantity of it on
a
>flat plate, then dabbed your brush in it. You then dabbed the brush over
the
>stencil while it was held in place. The ink, when dry, did not form a
thick
>film, so buildup was neglible. I suppose you could use paint also, with
the
>results that you see on your set. In summary, the stencilled letters were
not
>intended for extended use, and were not cosmetically pretty, and they were
>always black as far as I know. We did vehicle markings with precut stencils
>made of a plasticized paper with a strange wrinkled crepe low tack backing
on
>it. Lacking that, we hand cut stencils from whatever was on hand. There
was
>little uniformity in letter size, quality, and font style, from truck to
>truck, and I NEVER saw the stencil bars painted in according to today's
>information on the practice.
>On cleaning your brass stencils, try boiling in a weak lye solution.
(strong
>Spic & Span detergent will work ok) It won't attack the brass but it will
>remove paint. It will leave a nice normalized neutral surface, and all you
>will have left is some dark stain and color. Watch it though, because some
of
>them were made of die cut zinc sheet, and brass plated. Ever see alka
>seltzer? LOL!
>Hope this was interesting!
>Regards,
>Jack
>snip snip Mike's standup routine on brass stencils....(LOL!)
>
><< Ok folks, today's topic is.......BRASS STENCILS! >>
>
>===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
>To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@uller.skylee.com>
>To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to
<mil-veh-digest@uller.skylee.com>
>Send administrative queries to <mil-veh-request@uller.skylee.com>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 04 2000 - 21:57:20 PDT