WW11 ORIGINAL PAINTED A-2 JACKET

[Silver Surfer]

cbi is correct regarding modern acrylic paint. wet the jac real good and just crinkle it, lo and behold the paint just peals off. reason? acrylic paint is water based, and drys by evaporation [oil based, and laytex paint "cure", that is chem reaction in the paint]. this will not work with old oil based paint. same with old laytex paint, as the formula was made to withstand washing, though the paint was water based.

 

[CBI]

actually it DOES work with old oils and enamels (alchohol). Have done it a million times with old leather. the crack and crinkle works well with old paint and depending on the leather can be the safest best. All of my jacket painting is also with enamels. Its going to depend on lots of factors as what exactly works. Yes, also mineral spirits but that can mess up the leather - leaving a stain.

 

[Andrew]

Yep, i'm hoping the house painting was a recent excercise so it'll be acrylic rather than old hardened oil based stuff. The thin smearing spatter makes me a little worried that it's the latter. Geez, what were they thinking? :lol:

I did the usual and asked the seller if they knew anything about the history of it and I got the old, yeah, got it an an estate sale, some old guy... Amazing how to them it was just some old dudes paint splattered leather jacket yet to us it's a piece of wearable history.

Anyone know how 27752's run with sizes? Full body, short arms? At least that's what their dims looked like. I'm really hoping this one turns out ok, it'll be my second orig with collar stand.

 

[deeb7]

Yep, i'm hoping the house painting was a recent excercise so it'll be acrylic rather than old hardened oil based stuff.

I'd be praying that it's the other way round, my experience isn't with leather, but the old alkyd paints are usually easy enough to remove. Acrylics can be another story, even when resorting to caustic soda, often much of it will remain ... modern paints are formulated to stay on.

 

[TankBuster]

Yep, i'm hoping the house painting was a recent excercise so it'll be acrylic rather than old hardened oil based stuff. The thin smearing spatter makes me a little worried that it's the latter. Geez, what were they thinking? :lol:

I did the usual and asked the seller if they knew anything about the history of it and I got the old, yeah, got it an an estate sale, some old guy... Amazing how to them it was just some old dudes paint splattered leather jacket yet to us it's a piece of wearable history.

Anyone know how 27752's run with sizes? Full body, short arms? At least that's what their dims looked like. I'm really hoping this one turns out ok, it'll be my second orig with collar stand.

A great description, and I completely agree that it is a piece of wearable history. I wish more people thought of it that way.

 

[Andrew]

I'm hijacking this thread but I guess it's as good here as anywhere else. My RW arrived today so I wasted no time in trying out Vic's advice. Bloody amazing. It is indeed a real mess with more splatter than I expected, but the good news is that it's a very thin coating so whatever it was it was quite thin- perhaps from flicking freshly washed brushes out.

Anyhow, the acetone works wonders. Took several hours to do the front half and it does move a little of the dye around but doesn't remove much. What it does do is takes the original sheen off the surface and whilst I hate taking to an original like this and changing its appearance the result is far better than the way it was.

Here's some shots, the fit is spot on too which is a major bonus, and the lining is near perfect. Once this process is done it'll be a new jacket, so thanks for all the tips guys. My one issue with it is the RW upstand clown collar- man, what were they thinking when they designed that. I'm sure there's many who like the look and feel but give me a Dubow any minute of the day. Flipping the back edge up (it is already creased there) tends to kick the cormers away from your face. Still, i'm really happy with it. I'll post a shot when complete.

Taken just after starting on the windflap and pocket. After cleaning the paint off i've conditioned it with a light smear of pecards.

A nice little find in the pocket was a parking lot ticket that located the jacket to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centre Sacremento, on the morning of the 22 March 1983. Wonder if that was the original owner wearing his old flight jacket on a visit to the doctors?

 

[TankBuster]

Nice Andrew! That is coming off alot easier than it appeared it would. You're gonna have yourself a nice wearer.