How To Paint On A Leather Jacket 101, Part 4: The theory #2

[a2jacketpatches]

Surprisingly I found the book "Classy Chassy" he signed for me.

 

[Stand By]

OK, I will chime in just to "help". As a few of you know from the VLJ site and maybe a few here, I have painted LOADS of jackets and patches. The points and time spent above are great! However the majority of paints use in WW2 on jackets were lead based paints (which are no longer available for sale in the US). In order to get that 100% authentic look, one's paint choice needs to be as close to lead and the pile qualities of it as one can. Its the depth and pile of lead paints that is hard to duplicate. For this reason IMO, acrylic paints (which are a post WW2 invention) just don't look authentic - about 95% of the time. They look super but most always "off" With enamel paints get one closer to WW2 and "old school" ..........isn't that what one wants? To look 1940's? Enamel can be pretty stable with sealers added on top. Do they crack a little????.............YES, but that's the look. A few cracks add to the authenticity. I have heard of some jacket painters who have used enamel with poor results but I don't think the leather was either properly prepped or sealed. Since many jackets in the 40's were painted with oils and leather dyes, those can look convincing. "One Shot" vintage sign paint was mentioned. Its GREAT, a total vintage look, yes limited colors and expensive, slow drying and quite toxic! Its easy to mix with other One Shots for many color variations. For those who remember Jerome Urbaniak, one of the kings in the jacket painting world, he and I went back and forth via emails about the pros/cons of enamel which he did not use for some of the reasons listed. I have never had any issues with enamels and One Shot at least in the last 10 years I have been using them. if you search some older threads of mine, you can see artwork samples. Not trying to stir anything up, just food for thought and I must admit, tired of too many back and forth on this topic. Oh, also consider the 40's era color palette, different than today, more brown-ish. Try to find a 40's era color sampler, maybe its the age but slightly more browns based overall.

Yes, a few acrylic guys can pull off the look but its tough for the true 40's feel........IMO

Not saying I do either but I wish I could buy lead based paints. I think they sell them in Mexico but not making that trip!

Hi CBI,
Many thanks for your contribution to the thread here (As I said in my conclusion,I knew there'd be some artists out there when I started this thread, but I honestly couldn't put any names to avatars, so to speak, and my way of doing the painting was just one way and there are others, so I'm glad to make your acquaintance) and clearly you've been doing this for some time using your way very well and you know your kung-fu when it comes to the topic.
Thanks too for the photos and names - and I sincerely hope that whoever finds this thread with the aim of trying some jacket art for themselves will have a new source of references to hunt down to become enlightened with.
I began building my model hobby at the age of 6; with a couple of Series 1 Airfix kits (a Spitfire and a P-51. I remember the day and my joy!), a tube of Airfix polystyrene glue (to get all over the canopy!) and few glass bottles of Airfix enamel paint - and over the years, they became tin lets, and then Humbrol took them over and the range was truly extensive in the 1980s (with the Authentic range, which I adored - and still do and can still get NOS out here) and so I became fluent with using them and it's through enamels that I learned my craft and colour theory (which serves me so well in what I do today as a medical artist. I credit my old childhood hobby for it all the time). I still use them for all of my models and wouldn't change to acrylics if I could, as I'm so used to them and they really work and I get the results I want with them.
But having worked with these paints and spray cans and glues all those childhood years (in my bedroom without proper ventilation of course. I shudder to think about it now!) - and then using toxic dental materials and certain dubious practices (which never fail to get a laugh if brought up today - out of a sense of relief that total disaster/injury was always routinely averted) as an apprentice with health and safety not being what it is today, I'm very mindful of the health hazards these days - and unless someone is using a fume cupboard (like me at work here), a paint hood for home spraying or are painting outside/in a garage, I just think that no hobby (or profession for that matter) is worth killing perfectly good brain cells over! So I only spray enamels outside - and so, being here in Canada, that means I'm limited in wintertime as the cold affects the way paint particles act as an aerosol. It's for that reason that I learned to use oils and acrylics for my jackets and recommend them here - as they are a) house-friendly (read wife-friendly into that!) and b) available without any frustration to obtain them - and people can practice with them in safety all year round.
But you make excellent points that enamels were the universal medium used back in the day and they do imbue a distinct and certain appeal (charm) unto themselves - and that then, for me, is the goal- to try to emulate them with acrylics! Not easy, as you say, but it's the challenge!
Thanks again.

 

[Stand By]

Surprisingly I found the book "Classy Chassy" he signed for me.

View attachment 38152

That's a keeper! Fantastic.

 

[CBI]

Wow, Stand By.....what a response! Why? Almost my same exact story. I build models as a kid with all those paint and glue fumes without think twice about it. Lived on the west coast and ended up getting a great pre/in-college gig building models for the military: Navy and Air Force. Plastic models by the butt load for training, lectures and presentations. Build/painted over 300 in about 4 years. Paintings, t-shirt design and printing, if it was "toxic" fume artwork, I did it and screwed up my health doing it. Had to not paint for years. I only do occasional artwork now. If I do too much I notice it (even with major league ventilation). Frankly, even acrylic odors bother the Mrs.

 

[Stand By]

Wow, Stand By.....what a response! Why? Almost my same exact story. I build models as a kid with all those paint and glue fumes without think twice about it. Lived on the west coast and ended up getting a great pre/in-college gig building models for the military: Navy and Air Force. Plastic models by the butt load for training, lectures and presentations. Build/painted over 300 in about 4 years. Paintings, t-shirt design and printing, if it was "toxic" fume artwork, I did it and screwed up my health doing it. Had to not paint for years. I only do occasional artwork now. If I do too much I notice it (even with major league ventilation). Frankly, even acrylic odors bother the Mrs.

300+ kits in 4 years ?! And I thought I was prolific in my former years! I'm sure you've built some of mostly everything! I'd love to see some of your kits sometime.
And it's not just the enamel paints, is it? It's the turps and thinners … so using water with acrylics is a bonus not lost on me.
And these days I have to be careful with using paints in the house as anything even remotely toxic would kill our parrot - and if anything ever hurt him (or worse), my girlfriend would never forgive me (and frankly, I'd never forgive myself!). So that's why I like acrylics for the jackets. Better for my health - in more ways than one!
And for anyone starting out and needling lots of practice, I just think they're better to get their feet wet with before graduating to enamels if they get really keen.

I'm glad to find another modeller around here, CBI. You'd understand me then when I say that, I love the TFL as I've learned so much here and have grown to appreciate the nuances about the jackets and ephemera. And those photos that were just posted by Superfluous of the Real McCoys store in Seattle just look like sheer retail heaven - and they completely appeal to the man in me.
But sometimes, on a Saturday morning, I just love to ride over to my local hobby store (where everyone inside is so nice and friendly) and serve myself a nice coffee in there and browse the latest model magazines and pick up the ones with new techniques that interest me, and peruse the aisles and see what's new (and re-savour the old) and to be just be surrounded by all those kits and box art work and admire the kits hanging from the ceiling - and to go in the basement where all the vintage kits are. It too feeds my soul and I get a good "fix" - and it appeals to the kid in me.
And then, in another model store near me (there are 3, I'm so lucky!), there's the most amazing 1/35 scale diorama of a replication of the DVD cover of Memphis Belle - where a B-17 crew are on and around a Jeep and another crewman is taking their photo - and I'm telling you, whoever made that isn't just good but they really know their flight gear and could be from TFL; perfect B-3s, B-2s and A2s and all the rest of it. It's perfectly done. It's the only model made by someone else I'd like to buy for myself! I admire the heck out of it every time I see it. I should try and get better photos of it and post them - I only have little images on my flip-phone.
It's a wonderful hobby and I credit it for so much in my life.

 

[CBI]

Yep, LOTS of models. I would work on maybe 10 at a time, sort of production line style with good results and overall less time. I should dig up some pics but this is from 30+ years ago! At one point, I was wearing a military gas mask when doing silk screening as those old inks were awful!!!!

 

[Stand By]

So I was at my local hobby store yesterday and took along my camera to try get some decent shots of one of the dioramas in there that I absolutely adore - and I know many around here would appreciate for the A2 and B-6 jackets and the B-2 caps!
Thankfully it was still there - and it was made by a local guy named Brian Wildfong.
This diorama was clearly a labour of love and appears to have been inspired by the cover of the Memphis Belle movie.
Beautiful work. Even the cigarette is to scale (1/35th) and is so fine an has a light at the end (!), plus the polkadots on the silk scarf, even all the group patches match! The flak helmets are perfect. Heck, everything's so perfect!
Just beautiful work. I take my hat off to this guy.