Anyone around here still doing WWII Squadron Patches?

[Worf]

I'm getting a new Black/Tea Core A2, my first in a loooooong time. Anyone here still doing handpainted squadron patches? I tried searching but no soap. I know cross-zips are all the rage now but I'm always behind the times.

Worf

 

[Peacoat]

Don't know anything about hand painted squadron patches, but it is good to see you back posting again. Hope all is well. PC.

 

[Sloan1874]

I think the Flight Jacket Patches group on Facebook can help you. Aero might have some left from the you-know-who era.

 

[GHT]

I'm getting a new Black/Tea Core A2, my first in a loooooong time. Anyone here still doing handpainted squadron patches? I tried searching but no soap. I know cross-zips are all the rage now but I'm always behind the times.

Worf

Welcome back Worf, good to see you posting again. I've just got back from a vintage festival, I do remember one of the traders there selling hand painted patches. This link is to Pinterest, I'm not that good at deciphering websites and can't find the vendors name, but here's the link, see what you can do. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/471963235934486068/

 

[Hide'n'seek]

We have a huge selection at Aero of both Hand painted and embroidered. They are not properly catalogued but we have most Fighter and Bomb Squadrons available. If you let us know what squadorns you are looking for we can check if we have.
you can email me - denny@aeroleatherclothing.com

 

[rocketeer]

I'm getting a new Black/Tea Core A2, my first in a loooooong time. Anyone here still doing handpainted squadron patches? I tried searching but no soap. I know cross-zips are all the rage now but I'm always behind the times.

Worf

Hi Worf. Nice to see you back, have you ever thought of doing it yourself? Even if you are not the greatest painter as I am certainly not, if you pick a fairly simple design rather than Disney cartoons etc, but remember it's practice that makes you better/perfect.
I used to do lots of these for mates as British leather wear companies were not producing them in abundance, maybe the odd one off, also when A2s took hold in the UK during the mid 1980s collectors wanted either chenille or cloth patches as painted could be faked easily, though in those days to be honest they usually looked fake with a 'dirty' varnish put over a design. Look at early Avirex stuff and you will see what I mean, the designs often lithographed onto leather.
All you need is an old leather bag or coat and a bit of thought. Think what colours would be available on base, find some model paints such as Testors or Humbrol and do your mixing from those. I find enamels work great, I prefer the type that is spirit based rather than water based though. I would say not to use solvent paint as I have never used it and don't know the properties of adhesion, or what happens when you make a mistake and need to wipe off mistakes with thinner.
Faking the aged look can make or break you efforts, it's not a secret but if you wish to paint your own I'l message you later.
Also I would not worry too much which leather you choose as covered with paint it would be hard to tell anyway, just choose something like cow/steer or goat a bit similar to your jacket with a little wear rather than a soft leather such as an used ladies fashion jacket etc.
Both Aero and Eastman have some pretty good ones but Eastmans are fabric and retail for around £40. Aero offer both starting at £20 both of course look best on a new jacket. My advise would be if you wished for a used(25 mission) look, put the patch in with some regular used tools and let 'nature' take it's course.

Here's a couple that I made around 30 year ago, but sat in my drawer for many years, thats only because I had nothing to put them on rather than an ageing process as with a fine 12 year old Scotch Whiskey haha.
Hope this helps, John.

19th Bombardment Squadron patch on left, Pacific Theatre(More info please?)
To the right we have a 709th Squadron of the 447th Bombardment Group based at Rattlesdon, England. The lower pic of the rather tatty early Eastman A2 has that very 19th patch sewn to it.

 

[rocketeer]

PS, What is Tea Core? surely not another specialist leather as I have not seen it mentioned on any websites(jacket makers that is)

 

[GHT]

PS, What is Tea Core? surely not another specialist leather as I have not seen it mentioned on any websites(jacket makers that is)

I think that it refers to the colour of the leather below the surface/grain layer. I'm not sure where the term "tea core" came from, but it's a fairly apt way to refer to leather with a low-depth dye penetration that leads to brown tones showing in high wear areas.

 

[Bfd70]

Man, i know i don’t like the way the A2s fit me with the leather stopping high on the arm and waist but you guys keep posting great pics and twisting my arm into buying one that i will most certainly cell. @rocketeer, c’mon! A2 with hand painted patch. Old BSA. Y resolve is plummeting. Someone please rent me one so i can get it outta my system.

 

[El Marro]

Man, i know i don’t like the way the A2s fit me with the leather stopping high on the arm and waist but you guys keep posting great pics and twisting my arm into buying one that i will most certainly cell. @rocketeer, c’mon! A2 with hand painted patch. Old BSA. Y resolve is plummeting. Someone please rent me one so i can get it outta my system.

I have a spare Good Wear I could rent you but it would be too big and that would just drive you crazy and make you even more determined to buy your own that fit perfectly...

 

[Bfd70]

Resistance is futile.

 

[nick123]

I think that it refers to the colour of the leather below the surface/grain layer. I'm not sure where the term "tea core" came from, but it's a fairly apt way to refer to leather with a low-depth dye penetration that leads to brown tones showing in high wear areas.

The Japanese tea ceremony. Tied into the ethos of wabi-sabi; a veneration of the natural entropy of life's objects.

 

[Worf]

Thanks for the love folks. I never really "went away". It's just in the summer while sweating, grunting and well... sweating... jackets and coats are the furthest thing from my mind! I'm always hanging around the "Moving Picture" forum on here so I'm never really "gone". Since I'm getting the jacket made at Aero via Thurston, I'll give Carrie a jingle and see if they have a patch for the 80th Fighter Squadron "The Headhunters" out of New Guinea I believe... Love the emblem. As always... you guys are aces in my book!

Worf

 

[rocketeer]

The Japanese tea ceremony. Tied into the ethos of wabi-sabi; a veneration of the natural entropy of life's objects.

Gulp!

 

[rocketeer]

Thanks for the love folks. I never really "went away". It's just in the summer while sweating, grunting and well... sweating... jackets and coats are the furthest thing from my mind! I'm always hanging around the "Moving Picture" forum on here so I'm never really "gone". Since I'm getting the jacket made at Aero via Thurston, I'll give Carrie a jingle and see if they have a patch for the 80th Fighter Squadron "The Headhunters" out of New Guinea I believe... Love the emblem. As always... you guys are aces in my book!

Worf

A neat patch, nice and bright Yes Aero via Thurston maybe your best bet, it will show well on a brown jacket. I may even get the paint out and have a go myself.

 

[Deacon211]

Hey Worf,

Saw you on, was it the IL-2 forums (or was it DCS?) and was surprised! I rarely see people on a cross discipline forum...at least with a similar recognizable forum name. [emoji16]

Isn’t there a dude on the VLJ forums that still does commission work with patches?

Good luck in your search!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Edward]

Interesting how this isn't so common a topic around here now; I guess even in Vintage World where Our Taste Don't Change, things still go in and out of fashion.

I've noticed fewer of this sort of thing about recently especially, as I'm looking out for an AVG style blood-chit, the first version, with no Mandarin characters for "American". Seems most of what is now available on that front is 1942 or later.

View attachment 182185

View attachment 182194

Lovely BSA - yours?

I think that it refers to the colour of the leather below the surface/grain layer. I'm not sure where the term "tea core" came from, but it's a fairly apt way to refer to leather with a low-depth dye penetration that leads to brown tones showing in high wear areas.

That's pretty much it. Most black leather nowadays is dyed black right through, and so shows 'greyed' areas as it wears. So-called 'teacore' only has the black dye on the surface; where it wears it will turn a coppery-brown colour (exact shade depending upon whether and what brown it has been dyed with underneath) that to many looks like the colour of a good cup of tea... hence 'tea' 'core'.

Teacore has been popularised because that's how a lot of jackets were made back in the day, though it seems to me that the modern versions are designed to age artificially quickly, presumably for the guys who want a jacket that looks like a real, seventy-plus year old jacket in 2019. I'm more in the camp that prefers a jacket to look like it was bought new in 1947, say, and now it's 1955, but I am one of those who prefers the full vintage look, so I want different things in a leather jacket than the guys who grew up going to airshows and want a jacket that looks exactly like the one they saw on that stall, but was too small / too expensive / a replica of an original they feel is now too fragile or too valuable to wear out.... Vive la difference.

 

[Hide'n'seek]

Thanks for the love folks. I never really "went away". It's just in the summer while sweating, grunting and well... sweating... jackets and coats are the furthest thing from my mind! I'm always hanging around the "Moving Picture" forum on here so I'm never really "gone". Since I'm getting the jacket made at Aero via Thurston, I'll give Carrie a jingle and see if they have a patch for the 80th Fighter Squadron "The Headhunters" out of New Guinea I believe... Love the emblem. As always... you guys are aces in my book!

Worf

There you go........handpainted or embroidered





Sorry don't know why they aren't straight ? ............They are straight on my laptop ??

 

[rocketeer]

There you go........handpainted or embroidered

View attachment 182540 View attachment 182541



Sorry don't know why they aren't straight ? ............They are straight on my laptop ??

That first pic reminds me of Screaming Jay Hawkins 'I Put a Spell on You'

I'm sure someone can straighten these out. All you have to do is take a screenshot, rotate and then post as a reply.

 

[rocketeer]

Interesting how this isn't so common a topic around here now; I guess even in Vintage World where Our Taste Don't Change, things still go in and out of fashion.

I've noticed fewer of this sort of thing about recently especially, as I'm looking out for an AVG style blood-chit, the first version, with no Mandarin characters for "American". Seems most of what is now available on that front is 1942 or later.




Lovely BSA - yours?



That's pretty much it. Most black leather nowadays is dyed black right through, and so shows 'greyed' areas as it wears. So-called 'teacore' only has the black dye on the surface; where it wears it will turn a coppery-brown colour (exact shade depending upon whether and what brown it has been dyed with underneath) that to many looks like the colour of a good cup of tea... hence 'tea' 'core'.

Teacore has been popularised because that's how a lot of jackets were made back in the day, though it seems to me that the modern versions are designed to age artificially quickly, presumably for the guys who want a jacket that looks like a real, seventy-plus year old jacket in 2019. I'm more in the camp that prefers a jacket to look like it was bought new in 1947, say, and now it's 1955, but I am one of those who prefers the full vintage look, so I want different things in a leather jacket than the guys who grew up going to airshows and want a jacket that looks exactly like the one they saw on that stall, but was too small / too expensive / a replica of an original they feel is now too fragile or too valuable to wear out.... Vive la difference.

Not much going on with the WWII period jackets similar to what Andrew Swat was usually posting, maybe we don't take it seriously enough anymore and those folks have disappeared. I'll post my Lucky 7 Seven when appropriate. Though we do appear to have gone a little pro Civilian style lately it seems.

The BSA. Yes had it 20 years but not ridden it a lot lately so for sale when I get the kickback sorted out.
I don't really know where 'Tea Core thing has come from though. Maybe someone made it up, a bit like calling motorcycle jackets Cafe racer, as the lads that rode these Cafe Racer bikes would wear anything from their work donkey jackets to Lancer style with collars, straight zip shirt style and even what were called mandarin, Oh god, here I go again haha. But Tea? is there any TEA involved, strong with one sugar please Edward