As many have seen in other posts, I'm doing a series of the Willis & Geiger AN-J-3 based on patterns of my original. The W&G jackets made during the war had a different finish on the hides vs. the other manufacturers of the M-422a. Most I've seen were a lighter brown with russet undertones vs. the standard dark seal. This is generally speaking, as I have seen & owned M-422a's that "bucked the trend", but most fall into this category.
While messing around & experimenting with some scraps , I've found a formula/procedure that will match the look of the 70+ yr old W&G jackets without using sandpaper & some of the other "premature" aging things that people do. No hides were "abused" in the process!
Here are a few pics of the results, taken indoors today (rain) under different lighting with the iphone. hopefully the weather will cooperate for some outdoor natural lighting pics, but you can get a rough idea how well things blend together between new & 70+ yr old original. The last pic is of a new sleeve slid over the sleeve of my original W&G M-422a.
While messing around & experimenting with some scraps , I've found a formula/procedure that will match the look of the 70+ yr old W&G jackets without using sandpaper & some of the other "premature" aging things that people do. No hides were "abused" in the process!
Here are a few pics of the results, taken indoors today (rain) under different lighting with the iphone. hopefully the weather will cooperate for some outdoor natural lighting pics, but you can get a rough idea how well things blend together between new & 70+ yr old original. The last pic is of a new sleeve slid over the sleeve of my original W&G M-422a.
