That OD Paint is Tough Stuff...

[Nailhead]

I have been chemical stripping some small parts with spray-on Kwik Strip, and have noticed one surprising thing: the stock OD paint pretty much shrugs off chemical paint stripper. Laughs at it, unlike the red paint applied later in my truck's career, which ripples & peels almost instantly.

My parents got a lot for their tax dollar when Uncle Sam bought that paint.

[Flingarrows]

I have had a similar experience, that stuff is tough

[NOLA5Qtr]

Most likely its due to the fact that the older military paint had a lot more hardener in the formula than you find in today's paint so that it would be more durable under combat conditions. Today, there are all the ingredient limits that weren't in place back when our trucks were being produced resulting in modern paint being a so much weaker finish.

[fishtail]

Even sandblasting a couple coats of original paint can be time consuming.

Scott

[Don Cavey]

My troop seats are painted yellow. I used chemical stripper. The yellow came off; the OD did not! No worries...

[Subybaja]

Yes it is! I found the same thing with a wire wheel on a grinder- 6 layers of random-colored spraypaint came right off, but I really had to lay into it to get the OD off.

[Don Cavey]

Yes it is! I found the same thing with a wire wheel on a grinder- 6 layers of random-colored spraypaint came right off, but I really had to lay into it to get the OD off.

I think that I will just use a sander, take the yellow off and top coat the racks with OD.

[Nailhead]

Most likely its due to the fact that the older military paint had a lot more hardener in the formula than you find in today's paint so that it would be more durable under combat conditions. Today, there are all the ingredient limits that weren't in place back when our trucks were being produced resulting in modern paint being a so much weaker finish.

Interesting-- thanks.

[jeepdan]

This was the best that I could do using a good quality chemical stripper.
I sanded most of the paint off after that, before sandblasting the hood.
Heck, I wouldn't even have removed the tough old OD paint off of the hood, if I hadn't needed to repair some bad dents.

[Nailhead]

I thought I had found the solution when I peeled the OD off the gas cap, neatly & quickly: leave the stripper on for the duration of the weekend, instead of the recommended 15 minutes.

Wrong: the paint on the air filter inlet fitting was hardly affected by the stripper.

I'm just going to sand it & move on.

Good grief.