Warbird Information Exchange

G'day folks,

I was given a 1980s Banana Republic A-2 copy. It's a pretty ordinary copy by proper standards, but was too good to cut up or throw away. The collar is too big, it has hand-warmer pockets and the general dimensions are just...a bit off. I decided to use it to test a few painting methods, for my next 'proper' jacket artwork. I like the history of the 56th FG, so I chose a 61st FS scheme.

I'm not sure whether shoulder patches were ever painted, but it makes an interesting exercise. Before I painted it, I reminded myself that the AAF insignia goes on the left hand sleeve while the 8th AF insigina is on the right. I sat down and started the 8th AF details and was happy until I noticed that I'd done it on the wrong sleeve! Not to worry, as a painting exercise it doesn't really matter.

Anyway, I'm giving the jacket to my father-in-law. His mother, Sylvia, died when he was a boy. There's no way it could be passed off as anything but an enthusiastic amateur effort!











I'd be interested in ideas from people who have undertaken such work. What's the best way to seal the images to avoid cracking and splintering. I used a spray-on matt artist's clear which seems to have worked so far. Any thoughts are welcome. It's pretty rough, but I figure that many wartime efforts were rough as well.

Cheers,
Matt

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Matt Austin - playing with warbirds since the early 80s.

See my Lee-Enfield videos at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Jollygreenslugg

Nice job! Lately, when I try doing detail or longish lines I tend to shake like that famous dog and the swallowed strand of barbed wire!

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The two jackets that I have painted were done with acrylic paints. I prepped the leather with plain old paint thinner to take the 'wax' coating off, then did multiple thin layers of paint...allowing each layer to dry at least 24 hours (if you do it too thick in one layer, it will crack and start to flake off with wear). And then before I put the next layer on, I stretched the material out from the inside of the jacket to sort of 'induce' any cracks that might be there...that allowed the next thin layer of paint to fill in those cracks.

When I was done, I used a clear acrylic sealant over all painted surfaces.

So far it has worn very well with no visible cracking.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

I started painting jackets back in the late 70's, so have a little experience in this area.

The suggestions regarding preparing the surface prior to painting is critical. This serves to remove the oils. Since acrylic is a water based paint, and the leather is treated with oil the two are not going to mix, especially when body heat is applied. This is the unfortunate fate of many of the jackets painted by Tony Starcer for the Shoo Shoo Baby team. He painted on new repro jackets and the paint pretty much fell off after a year or two. Original jackets don't have nearly as much (if any) oil in them. Avirex jackets were the worst. You could nearly wring the oil out and lube your car....

Using the lacquer thinner requires a delicate touch to prep only in the area that is going to be painted. This is particularly difficult around lettering. You must also be mindful of how the finish was applied to the jacket....sometimes "aging" is applied in the dye process as a topical application. You run the risk of stripping that off if you are too free with the thinner prep.

Cracks....well, there isn't much you can do about that. Leather is skin and skin has folds. The leather is going to follow the contours of the cow and your paint is going to follow the contours of the leather. One of my early pieces was a jacket for a friend based on the art from Der Grossarsevogel...with a standing nude carrying a 500 pound bomb...back to the viewer.

After a few months my friend called me and said, "Hey, there's a problem....the girl has a crack in her a*s!"

I said, "Well, most people do...!"

He says, "Yeah, but this one runs left to right!"

I had not looked closely enough at the new leather to see where the cracks were going to develop. That is when you learn how to paint "into" the voids. That is very hard to do with a brush.

Over spraying with a flat acrylic sealer is good....but don't over do it! It is also a good idea to cut yourself a frisket (mat) to contain the sealer on the art and not the surrounding leather.

It took years of experiment to get the right mix of acrylic. I eventually taught myself how to thin the paint with alcohol, but that is a lesson for another day.

Don't forget that these painted jackets were worn every day for maybe a year and a half.....say 500 days. Now-a-days you're going to wear yours maybe once a month for ten years....a little over a hundred days...? The wear factor has a lot to do with the look of the art...

My first painted jacket from over 30 years ago (that I did for myself) just showed up on the US Militaria forum....the guy who recently bought it tracked me down...the discussion before he found me was kind of funny as people were trying to determine the originality of the thing. Some of my other jackets have shown up at shows as originals--mostly because my customers handed me original A-2s to paint on. One was called War and Peace (an Airborne theme). And my rendition of Beason's Boise Bee also showed up in a collection as original. Fortunately I photographed most of my work, and if not I still have the design sketches.

A few years ago another friend showed me the work of a jacket artist from Germany. He had recreated Yankee Dood It--and that was an absolutely phenomenal copy!

JollyGreen--Your jacket is an example of one with "aging applied in the finish". If you were to "prep" this with thinner you would wipe out the "aging" that is why you would want to strip only in the spaces to be painted...including the lettering.

The AAF meatball was originally a decal applied to leather jackets. You can't recreate the type face by hand...no one is that good...and I gave up trying years ago!

Back when I started painting cars still had vinyl seats....and I would advise my customers to avoid wearing their jackets in cars with vinyl seats to prevent a "transfer" of art to the seat!

G'day folks,

Thank you very much for your informative and helpful replies. You've pretty-much confirmed what I thought was the case, and I'll use your points when carrying out future work.

I hadn't really done much about prepping the surface, beyond carefully scoring it slightly with emery paper. Easier to do with circles than with lettering, of course. I'd used the spray sealer to lay a fine mist over the finished work, allowing it to dry and repeating it.

Very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Matt

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Matt Austin - playing with warbirds since the early 80s.

See my Lee-Enfield videos at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Jollygreenslugg

Forgot to mention, Matt....the jacket and artwork DOES look nice!

But like I said in the post, if you don't prep the leather it just won't adhere over time.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

i've worn the same hand painted repro a-2 w/ oil based painted art for 11 years. yes there is a little flaking but the mild wear makes it look even more original. i get comments on it all the time.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!