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What have you done to your HMMWV today/lately

fpchief

Well-known member
1,041
220
63
Location
South Alabama
Thanks.

Are those hand/grab rails on the side of that heli? :)


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I think it is an antenna on or near the HF band. I work out of Ft Rucker and see it alot and ask the same thing every time i see it. One day i will ask someone.

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Mario

Active member
315
87
28
Location
Rio Rancho, NM
Worth a call to ask. I haven't bought anything from them but from what I've heard they're easy to deal with.
I too heard nothing but good things about the company.
Lead times are sometimes hard to swallow but when one understands that they prioritize deployed brothers before weekend warriors with toys, anyone that still has issues can eat S*it and die as fas as I'm concerned.
 

riderdan

Member
313
20
18
Location
Central Kansas
Thanks.
Are those hand/grab rails on the side of that heli? :)
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Antennae for sure.

But... you can jump out of a Chinook. I made a half dozen Chinook jumps when I was in the 82nd. They put the rear cargo door down like a ramp and you walked off it. Not as fun as Blackhawk jumps (where you sit your hind end on the floor and your knees in the breeze) but better than the C-141 jumps, where the air pressure essentially sucked you out the door.
 

desmodromic

Member
235
22
18
Location
New York, New York
Absolutely! I was just like you. I hadn't sprayed anything except my doors and top with Behr before this.

The gun was a Neiko HVLP with 2.0 tip with the DeVilbiss DeKups system. The DeKups system isn't mandatory but makes switching colors, running lacquer thinner through the gun when switching, and cleanup much easier. Remove the strainer that comes in the gun. Air pressure was around 40-45 PSI. Make sure you've got a good enough air compressor if you're spraying the CARC undiluted. Mines a bit undersized and struggled a bit.

Sherwin Williams will only sell in 1 gallon buckets which is way more brown and black than you could use on a single truck. You'll end up with tons left over. 1 bucket of green, diluted to 20% with water, is probably enough paint to do 2 trucks in base green. I had bought 2 gallons of green... :shock: Also the pot life is somewhat short so only mix enough as you go, around a quart at a time. I did 3 coats, 1 undiluted, 2 diluted, not counting the camo pattern.

The CARC can be diluted with distilled water to achieve different textures. Here is the recommended dilution rate as was given to me by a member here that spoke with a Sherwin Williams rep:


I went 20% and it turned out very nicely and sprays very easily. Spraying the undiluted paint is slow going as it's fairly thick stuff.

Get it agitated right before you're ready to use it, then mix with a stick, and finally mix with a paddle mixer in a drill. Make sure you get plenty of mixing ratio cups. You can clean them out with water but they get hard to use quick. Also make sure you pick up several extra buckets with lids to put mixed product into. Lastly it helps to have a 5 gallon bucket of water to toss used cups and the paddle mixer into for much easier cleanup.

The paint is very forgiving. I thought mine was going to end up looking like crap and it came out looking fantastic. Runs, if you dab them lightly right away with masking tape (a trick my friend who did the camo taught me), will flatten out very nicely to where they are nearly imperceptible. The hood takes forever to do. Don't try to get the whole grille section coated at once or you'll end up with runs. Do it from the front and back.

ETA: The undiluted CARC dries pretty quick, around an hour. Diluted CARC takes much longer, like a couple hours, especially if the humidity starts ticking up. Full cure time is 7 days.

Wow, awesome info. Thanks! If my paint jobs turn out well, you get the credit!
 

riderdan

Member
313
20
18
Location
Central Kansas
I'll take one in tan!
Thanks! It was clear acrylic to start out with, then rattle canned OD. :-D

It did come out pretty good, but I think the .1" acrylic might be too thin. We'll have to see how it hold up. Plus, my bright idea for mounting it (I cut holes in the top so it could screw to the bottom of the panel) didn't work out, because it turns out there's an other-than-90-degree angle at the back. I may either redesign it or make a "back" with screw tabs that I can use for mounting.

It was just a couple of dollars worth of acrylic and about half an hour of cutting. So the price was right, especially compared to the metal switch mounts "for humvees" that someone is selling on eBay for $150
 
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