What paint to use on an A2?

[Bingo]

Hi all.
As a big B17 fan, I have a love of the nose art crews painted on their planes and A2 jackets. I've painted a G1 and an A2 and used acrylic paint. I blogged how I did the A2.

http://a2jacketnoseart.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-step.html

Does anyone know if there is there a better type of paint for this, or do we think acrylic is fine?

Also. Did they ever paint the 8th air force badge on the sleeve?

Bingo

 

[ukali1066]

As an artist and modelmaker I think there's nothing better than acrylics for this task due to their flexibilty when dry.... BUT...only use a brand with good quality pigments, I can recommend:

Vallejo

Lifecolor

Games Workshop

All of these three makers offer a huge range of colours

GREAT work by the way...I'm sure people on here would pay you for this skill

 

[Silver Dollar]

I agree all the way. I've been using acrylinc on my jackets for at least 25 years. I'm very happy with the results even on the oldest work I've done. I have no chipping, flaking or large cracked areas. I'm also using a different acrylic paint. I use acrylics in the tubes from Windsor and Newton, Grumbacher's and Liquitex. The paint comes out of the tube like toothpaste. I mix it with water to the desired viscosity. One disadvantage of acrylic over oil is that acrylic sets much faster than oil. If you like to blend colors right on the leather like I do, oil is easier to use. For the acrylic, you just have to work quicker but the result is just as good.

There is another thing I do in preparation for painting. Since I don't do jackets for a living and I have no competitors, I can share my secret. I use the tracing paper and light lines to get my design onto the jacket. Then, the entire area inside my lines that is getting paint is carefully sanded with 320 grit wet dry sandpaper used dry to roughen the leather, get rid of any thick "epidermis" and get rid of the shine. I then paint onto the roughened leather using as many coats as it takes to get the paint even. It sort of works like a tattoo. The paint actually seeps down into the leather forming a solid mechanical bond between paint and leather. It takes a lot of work to get the design to crack significantly if it's done right. If you want to develop a more worn appearance over time, then you don't really need to do much sanding. You may not even want to do it at all. I like to keep my jackets in almost out of the box condition and like they've been painted just a few weeks ago but that's just my choice. I hope this helps.

 

[p51]

Back in WW2, they mostly only had either oil based paints or lead-based aviation paints to do these jackets. Some are so badly worn today that you can hardly tell there was ever art there.
I haven’t done one in a while, but I’ve painted plenty of A-2s in my day. I used a mixture of fabric paint and leather paints. Most people who paint jackets commercially (and there are a lot of them now, not when I did mine) will guard their “secret formulas” closely but I suspect most of them all use the same stuff anyway. The thing where most people screw up is they paint over top of the chemicals that were applied to the leather before making the jacket originally. You do need to do some stripping of the surface. That is a tricky process. Otherwise, your design will eventually start to flake off.
I disagree with some of this methods on the blog posted above. I always start with light colors and work towards darker ones. But then again, I’m more often doing graphics work:

I usually start with an outline of the overall image and paint it a thin coat of white, then build up from there. Layering the paint too deep is NOT a good idea.

 

[Bingo]

Thanks very much

For replying to my post guys.
Some really useful information here.

 

[Bingo]

Wow

Thanks for your kind words Ukali1066

 

[BaggyPants]

I've found oil based enamels work very well if you use them in a good thin consistency and build up layers over time. They will crack with wear, but then so did the originals, and this leads to a lovely worn look. Preparation of the area to be painted is the most important point. A rub over with cellulose thinners removes any surface chemicals on the leather, and a bit of a scrub with a fine kitchen pan scourer will make the paint adhere better.

 

[Silver Dollar]

I agree wholeheartedly with p51 and BaggyPants. I remember when good friend of mine early on applied the paint without any preparation He was able to peel the artwork off in one piece. It would make a great window decal but not a very durable jacket painting. That's one reason why I do the light sanding first. Heavy sanding is no good at all. It thins out the leather causing weak spots.