Diamond Clothing Co 18775P with CBI patches

[dmar836]

I like the look. I agree though that authentic wear is better. I have literally crawled under cars to do oil changes, worked on and in planes, and have intentionally been hard on mine. At three years(about the time they saw war service) I like the way it looks and it shows no sign of wearing out. The lining is starting to wear through on the front of the collar stands and there is an oil mark on one cuff. I still wear it to church and everywhere! Just be careful it doesn't start to smell. Mine is fine.
Most don't have the guts to treat an expensive jacket like that yet we all want to see one look the part. My only fear for yours is that now actual wear will tax the parts pretreated to wear so it might be hard to get the look right.
Good job!
Dave

 

[dmar836]

Oh, and nothing a redye won't fix!

 

[CBI]

I have one GW A-2 that is my leather beater that I have worn to do all sorts of hard work - its pretty beat up, looks very cool!

 

[Skip]

WHOA, that sparked some conversation. All good, no issue with any of those comments. I have a wardrobe of some originals and repros some hardly worn in others nicely grained and wearing, my intent with this one was to remove most of that purplish/blue coating, and it wasn't going to go away fast unless I helped it along. The previous jacket of the same kind from DD had leather with more a reddish/brown tone and Dave weathered it the way I like, but alas it was too small in the arms. Now they've changed to this leather, there is not a lot of grain visible, and if the colour of their darker seals are going to come with this purplish/blue tint then I'm not a fan. Its a repro anyway, so making it look authentic to wartime wear isn't a priority for me. Having a cutup jacket gives me another option to wear, and now theres only tiny patches of that horrible coating left I feel much better wearing it in its current condition.

Nice ride Skip and well done with the resto, you want to enter her in a few shows, she's an absolute beauty!

Shifted from Melb just over 2 years ago - the better half is from here. Ever so slightly different climate

Thanks, Its already won 2 trophies mate, Its now getting ready for an engine rebuild, took her out today, lovely blue skies here still. Would love to live in such a place, be so much different to just visiting for a holiday.

well, i feel that too much is like not enough, skip. you may consider rubbing some pecards brown leather dressing into the hides. it will mute down some of the "time worn" and the brown has a slight reddish hue, thus giving the surface and under areas a look that original aeros have. some very light sanding with the 1200 grit wet-dry, and a little bit of raw umber oil paint rubbed into the patches will tone them down bring them to a state consistent with the "time worn". all that aside, the jacket looks to be a perfect fit, and you are right, it now drapes well. between dave and sean, you have your self a kick ass a-2 there. oh, and the vette aint too shabby either. btw, how are the folks down there in oz weathering that cyclone? the sat pixs look, in the true sense of the word, awesome.

I'll bear that in mind SS, Sean puts a coating on his patches to age them a little, which might not have come through in the photos due to the contrast of light and dark, but I do agree they might need a little more work. I was wondering how I was going to do that without fowling up the coating he put on them, I'll try a little test area.

Bowen and surrounding region haven't weathered the cyclone too well, lots of damage and some hurt, haven't had time to squizz the news yet so not sure if there were any fatalities, I pray not. Its been degraded to a tropical low from a cat 5, last severe one was good ol' Larry in 2005/6. Seems to becoming the norm. I'm miles away south of Sydney, so it didn't touch us but the bureau thinks the left overs are going to combine with an incoming weather system from the Southern Ocean tonight, which apparently will give us a good lashing, although not as severe.

I like the look. I agree though that authentic wear is better. I have literally crawled under cars to do oil changes, worked on and in planes, and have intentionally been hard on mine. At three years(about the time they saw war service) I like the way it looks and it shows no sign of wearing out. The lining is starting to wear through on the front of the collar stands and there is an oil mark on one cuff. I still wear it to church and everywhere! Just be careful it doesn't start to smell. Mine is fine.
Most don't have the guts to treat an expensive jacket like that yet we all want to see one look the part. My only fear for yours is that now actual wear will tax the parts pretreated to wear so it might be hard to get the look right.
Good job!
Dave

Thanks Dave. that was my original intention to have a jacket that looks like its been through more than just a few cockpit scrapes, and the rough treatment isn't going to stop, except from now on it will be subjected to pretty much how you described yours. Although I wouldn't wear mine to church

I have one GW A-2 that is my leather beater that I have worn to do all sorts of hard work - its pretty beat up, looks very cool!

Always get lots of cool comments on my beat up jackets, plus they are always ultra comfortable.

 

[Silver Surfer]

heya skip. have a look-see at grants 27752 rough wear in the virgil hilts thread. as you will see there is wear on the jacket, and plenty of it, but the worn areas have an almost burnished quality to them, as against a raw abraded finish. as mentioned before, the pecards BROWN leather dressing will get to that kinda look with reddish [not purple] under tones. and when you have finished rubbing the goop in, ya might want to take the back of a spoon and massage the hides. this will give it that burnished look and feel.

 

[dmar836]

Although I wouldn't wear mine to church

LOL. Ironically, that's about the only place anyone has complimented it. A pastor actually said, "Cool Jacket" and asked all about it. He's young though and has that kind of hipster vibe.

Dave

 

[Skip]

heya skip. have a look-see at grants 27752 rough wear in the virgil hilts thread. as you will see there is wear on the jacket, and plenty of it, but the worn areas have an almost burnished quality to them, as against a raw abraded finish. as mentioned before, the pecards BROWN leather dressing will get to that kinda look with reddish [not purple] under tones. and when you have finished rubbing the goop in, ya might want to take the back of a spoon and massage the hides. this will give it that burnished look and feel.

Yep see what ya mean, I'll look into it, thanks for the tip.

 

[blackrat2]

Just flicked across to the Hilts thread, yep Grants RW looks very nice,some nice wear and colouring is really looking good