A small project finished

[Peter Graham]

Being a petrolhead, I've always had a thing for Jerry cans. I always carry one in the car and since my long serving can sprung a leak last year, I've been looking for a nice vintage one to replace it. A while ago while trawling the net I came across a French site devoted to WW2 German Jerry cans and this gave me an idea. I'd always wanted an original piece of WW2 German kit and a Jerry can, or "kanister" fitted the bill perfectly, combining practicality with an interesting piece of militaria. It didn't take long trawling ebay.de before I found one for little more than the price of a new can from an auto shop. It was sound, watertight and fairly dent free but had been sprayed a hideous light green with a red cap. I was about to re-spray the can with some desert sand paint I had lying about but when, out of curiosity I started scraping off the light green, it revealed the almost intact original "feldgrau" finish. This started many hours of unpleasant work with paint stripper, paraffin and wire wool to get all the green paint off but it was worth every minute. I finished it off with several coats of satin varnish to protect any areas where the paint had worn off completely. The red areas is the original German undercoat. I'm really chuffed with the can and it's earning it's keep already, in the back of my car, filled with diesel.

How it looked when I got it


Part of the way through stripping the paint


Finished

 

[ausreenactor]

Paint it pink....as in Desert Pink!!!

 

[Peter Graham]

Paint it pink....as in Desert Pink!!!

Huh ?

 

[ButteMT61]

Those look great Peter. Would love a pair for my FJ. Well done in keeping the vintage look/finish.

 

[Vcruiser]

Well done Pete..!
Van

 

[watchmanjimg]

Interesting item and great work, Peter!

 

[ausreenactor]

Paint it pink....as in Desert Pink!!!

Huh ?

LRDG/SAS Raiders used German fuel 'jerries' and routinely painted them pink... As in the Land Rover 'Pink Panther'.

Oddly enough here is one in Australia.. A bit dearer than the 1939 dated one for $5 in Bulgaria...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-WWII-GERMA ... 3a87ff6d7a

Couchy

 

[John Lever]

That's a great can and a job well done. My dad had the exact same model in his Landy.
Desert pink is/was the co!our used to camouflage vehicles in the Sahara,its a kind of beige. It could be where the term Pinkies comes from for soft skinned vehicles such as Land Rovers used in the British army.

 

[jack31916]

You did a great job Peter but it was worth all the efforts! The original colour added much to the value of this can. Interesting to see that this one was manufactured in Austria. Good luck wih it.

 

[Tim P]

Superb. A triumph for patience over a quick fix

 

[Peter Graham]

Thanks guys. The SS marked cans are the really rare and expensive ones, but like anything SS marked, fakes are being produced. Here's a link I found regarding this.

http://www.ww2f.com/topic/26806-ss-orig ... formation/

 

[John Lever]

Try using Osmo paint stripper next time. It is completely harmless to use and biodegradable. Brush it on then wrap with plastic film and leave until the paint softens. Try a small area first to gauge the time required to take off one layer of paint,then scrape or wash it off.

 

[dujardin]

good job

this remember me i have one

will take a photo

see you

 

[dujardin]

this is the one i have, 99% same as yours
mine is slightly rusted everywhere, will have to restaure completely and new painting

i have a good news for you, if you wish, i also have another one, NATO dated 1952
for your land, it will be perfect no ???

 

[Peter Graham]

this is the one i have, 99% same as yours
mine is slightly rusted everywhere, will have to restaure completely and new painting

i have a good news for you, if you wish, i also have another one, NATO dated 1952
for your land, it will be perfect no ???

It would indeed be perfect. I can see this Jerry can thing becoming addictive. I would try rubbing the can down to see how much original paint remains before repainting it. Clear varnish will protect it from further rust. I say try this first as if you repaint it you will lose the "20" stencilled in red, which is original as denotes the weight in kg when the can is full. It's referred to here.
http://sdkfz7.free.fr/emarquage.htm
John, thanks for the tip. I'll try it next time.

 

[dujardin]

hmmmmm yes...

maybe clean it with nylon brush on drill machine to remove rust
and apply vernish

good idea

thanksssssssssssss

i send some photo to sdkfz7, i notice he had no one of my series 753 (1943)

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice job Peter. Looks great!

 

[Andrew]

Excellent job Pete, what a find.Brought back memories from building my model Zundapp.

It's missing a few bits and pieces that I customized (straps and buckles) but it is over 30 yrs old now.
Such a beautiful font they used. I wonder what it's called.

 

[Peter Graham]

Andrew, I remember you posting pics of the Zundapp a long time ago. Fantastic model. Great to know you've still got it.

 

[Andrew]

Yes thanks Peter, it's in a box in the garage with the rest but I'd love to have a glass case for it one day. I found a link to that post;
viewtopic.php?p=32747#p32747

If and when I get a defender like yours I'll be on the lookout for one of these too. I love the shape of the reinforcing crimps.