willysmjeeps.com

I understand there were 3 different variations of 24087 used from the mid 1950's thru the Vietnam era.
The early was lighter with more green, middle had more brown and late (Vietnam era) was the darkest with most brown.
I am trying to match a semi gloss on an M38A1 with the early 24087 (it is not 23070, 34087 or 2430).
Ron Fitzpatrick's 24087 (Gillespie?) is a little dark with more brown.
Midwest Military (TM-9) is the later 1968-1974 Olive Drab used during the Vietnam War. The TM-9 semi gloss OD is much darker than the 1956 or 1959 shades of OD 24087.
Could anyone with more 24087 experience direct me to a vendor that carries the earlier 1956 or 1959 (lighter/more green shade) of 24087 please?

JeepDaddy,
If you plug "24087 paint" into the search function button above, and click the button to search for all terms, you'll get 61 hits of previous posts in this forum discussing the 24087 paint experience. Have you looked them over?

Probably end up buying one rattle can from everybody selling it (4-5 vendors) and do a shoot-off.....

Or, you might take a small part off your jeep down to your local paint store and have their color computer read it to mix up a sample....

Good luck!

I have at least two, maybe three, different shades of 24087 on my M38. From what I learned about 24087 shade confusion, the Army was changing paint shades like socks about that time. Throw in who knows how many different suppliers on Army contracts and there's no wonder that 65+ years later we're where we're at with the paint on the market.

I decided long ago not to chase it. My M38 isn't a museum piece. Most folks probably don't even notice the mostly subtle differences between the shades. Even if they do, I just call it "motor pool" maintained like back in the day where the young soldier just grabbed whatever OD paint happened to be in the locker that day and painted whatever his Sergeant told him to paint.

An automotive paint store might be able to offer more help than a local house paint or big-box store color computer.

try beachwood canvas.

Remember the paint used as a primer was the same paint, without the gloss.

I’ve been buying all my rattle cans (nothing big to paint yet) from Rapco.
It’s pretty green. I don’t detect much brown in it at all, if any. I think he calls it Late WWII?

Fwiw.

Thanks,
Brian

I also use the Rapco 24087

May try spray outs from several vendors in my quest for the lighter and more green "early 24087". Definitely not looking for the darker, more brown Vietnam 24087.
Any previous findings welcome!

It sure would be nice to put the 24087 shade question to bed once and for all......let us know what you discover!

Good luck!

EVERY batch of paint at the Willys Plant in Toledo was sampled and a sprayout card was compared to a master.

This is a comparison of 2430 vs 24087 NOT X24087, the later version to the new standard.

My 54 M170 is painted with Gillespie 24087 and matches the card in this image.

X24087 is the later brown version

Perfect! Thanks!!

I think he’d be satisfied with Rapco’s late WWII. I think it’s what you show.
Very green.

Internet and cell phone photos don’t show colors well at all. I tried to get a photo of my transfer case which is very green (Rapco late WWII) and it came out with a brown shade.’

Interesting. Not trying to stir the pot anymore than it already is, I'm just trying to understand.

My computer screen might faithfully reproduce subtle differences in shades, but what are the 3 panels we're looking at here? Is the top left panel the 2430 and the right is 24087? Which color is the bottom right panel? 2430 or 24087? Labels would help.

I can appreciate that every batch of paint at the Willys plant was compared to a master card by the human eyeballs of one inspector or another on duty that day ---- just not sure what that proves 70 years later? Yes, due diligence by Willys to make sure the Army got M38's painted with the right shade of paint, or at least within some acceptable range of shades. Can you imagine the criteria for an inspector to reject a batch of hundreds of gallons of paint? I bet 5 or 9 people had to agree before that decision was approved.

Is Gillespie the only current vendor mixing 24087 faithfully to the Willys card today? How did they manage to do that? Nobody else's paint is a match?

Adding to the confusion it seems that vendors might have missed the 24087 and X24087 difference because it looks like everything on the market is being sold as 24087. I've never seen X24087 advertised for sale anywhere but there are obvious brown and green shade differences between several vendor products. It accounts for the 2 or 3 shade differences on my M38. And I'm not repainting everything just for that.

Still lots of questions. I think when you find the shade you like, you better buy a case or two because you might never see it again.

Good stuff! Thanks!

No problem Ron.

It appears all but 12 photos I stored on the G503 photo host site are gone, so I had to search the drives I had with me.

I have the other cards at home (which is 5000 miles away). My recollection of the photo at the left upper is that is 2430, and is the other side of the card from the lower left. The upper and lower right are both the 1952 24087 but at different lighting.

It wasn't a visual match process, it was a spectrometer. I have photos of the machine that willys used, and a copy of the manual.

Bottom line, choose the color you like.

This should sort it out for you Ron.

That’s as good as it gets on the Internet.

Thanks Wes!