Let's talk about HMMWV paint

[Mainsail]

I painted my 1165 with rapco rattlecans. I didn't do the typical spray over the whole truck OD green and then apply the cammo colors, I just painted the brown parts brown, green parts green, and black parts black. It came out much better than I was expecting, and every bit as good as what the military does with a repaint.

One thing I learned about the rapco cans is that they throw a LOT more paint than krylon and the like. So they do drip a lot. Keep that in mind when you're spraying horizontal surfaces - there will be paint drips. It's better to raise the hood and paint it vertically so as to avoid the drips.

 

[HoveringHMMWV]

I painted my 1165 with rapco rattlecans. I didn't do the typical stray over the whole truck OD green and then apply the cammo colors, I just painted the brown parts brown, green parts green, and black parts black. It came out much better than I was expecting, and every bit as good as what the military does with a repaint.

One thing I learned about the rapco cans is that they throw a LOT more paint than krylon and the like. So they do drip a lot. Keep that in mind when you're spraying horizontal surfaces - there will be paint drips. It's better to raise the hood and paint it vertically so as to avoid the drips.

Would like to see pics please. I'm trying to decide which route to take for next year's project.

 

[Mainsail]

Would like to see pics please. I'm trying to decide which route to take for next year's project.

First pic is the auction pic - all my other pics are of it wet from rain. Second pic is after painting. I never did get to the windshield surround, so you might be able to notice it.

The only prep I did was to scrub it good with a green scrub pad and soapy water. I followed the cammo pattern freehand right up the doors.

 

[mgFray]

I used rapco on mine. But I did lay down a full green layer over the whole vehicle first, then came back and painted the camo pattern per the manual. (The previous camo on this thing was way off the pattern in the manual, which is why I did all of the effort to repaint it.)

Definitely heavier application of paint, but honestly it made it faster and quicker to do it. And multiple touch ups for various reasons and they all blend really nicely. I would definitely recommend it, fairly easy to work with and it looks great.

The one thing I will say, in IR the rapco is _VERY_ different then the original CARC. The CARC under IR becomes a very light color (similar to the grass I part on) while the Rapco paint turns almost black under IR. (I doubt this matters to anyone, but just an observation.)



Sorry for the side picture, just what I happen to have access to while at work. While my vehicle still had CARC in places, under IR the CARC was mostly the same color as the door and cargo top.

 

[hmmwv-newbie]

Is a case of rattle can rapco green 383 still the way to go? Mine was painted over with that horrible ugly sand color and I'm itching to restore it back to factory green.

I saw some people mentioning krylon and rustoleum in old threads, but the part numbers don't return anything now so I suspect they quit making those colors?

 

[Mainsail]

Is a case of rattle can rapco green 383 still the way to go? Mine was painted over with that horrible ugly sand color and I'm itching to restore it back to factory green.

I saw some people mentioning krylon and rustoleum in old threads, but the part numbers don't return anything now so I suspect they quit making those colors?

I don't recommend attempting to rattle-can the whole vehicle, while at the same time not trying to discourage such an attempt. I believe a real paint gun will give it a more uniform appearance, but I haven't tried it so maybe I'm wrong.

Spray can re-painting the individual cammo areas in their respective colors results in a passably decent appearance.

I bought their whole-case special and got three cans of black, three cans of brown, and six cans of green. At the end I had enough of everything except black, so I need to reorder once paining weather returns.