Good Wear Tuskegee A-2 - battle worn - 60 year old version

[CBI]

Good Wear A-2 Aero 21996 Seal Brown Horsehide. Inspired by Tuskegee Airmen - Lt. George Hardy, 99th Fighter Squadron. His P-51 was named “Tall in the Saddle” possibly after the John Wayne Western released in 1945. Hardy flew 21 missions but I wanted a very battle worn/60 year old look. I enjoyed “working” on this jacket: painting, hot water, etc. It’s the exact jacket shown on John’s site. I went for the period "theater made/folk art look"

 

[Roughwear]

Superb! Your GW Aero looks like a lightly worn original Tuskegee A2. The leather has developed a nice grain.

 

[442RCT]

I like it !!!! Most excellent work !

His P-51 was named “Tall in the Saddle” possibly after the John Wayne Western released in 1945.

Minor point, I thought 1945 was kinda late in the war, since VE Day was May 1945, so I googled the movie, "Tall in the Saddle", to see when it was released, it was released by RKO Studios in 1944...that would work.

 

[dadgad]

Nifty!

 

[Andrew]

Very nice work John (and John)...

 

[Chris217]

That's awesome!

If you dont mind me asking, what kind of paint do you use?

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Love your work!!! Better than any ELC time worn that I've seen.

 

[greyhound52]

Fantastic looks like my original Aero...superb job. Did you do the painting?? Wow if you did.

 

[greyhound52]

Thought I would show some pictures of my original Aero to compare. This was served in two wars WW2 and Korea as by the painting on the back and the USAF decal and stamp on the inside (the USAF stamp is right next to the USAAF stamp). One can see that John and John did a great job.

 

[LtGustl]

Congratulations!!

 

[TankBuster]

The aging of the jacket itself looks very accurate. Chapmans jackets are really great. Nice job.

 

[cmk-2]

WOW!! Your jacket aging looks dead on. Give us more details please. You could start a side business of aging jackets. Robin

 

[CBI]

Gents – thanks. Just want to mention that this is the new Japanese HH. This is what the exact jacket looked like new from Good Wear:

http://www.goodwearleather.com/pages/gw ... ages4.html

I soaked the jacket in hot water (in the bathtub) for a few minutes, roughing it up a bit in the water until a slight clouding in the water from the dye in the leather can be seen. The jacket gets taken out, rung out VERY carefully, and then put in the dryer (with zipper zipped up) on regular heat for about 15-20 minutes. Then the jacket is removed, carefully turned inside out and placed back in the dryer. This process goes on until the jacket is about half dry. I then wore the jacket for a while (5 hours on and off) and then the jacket dried over the next few days. THIS NEW LEATHER REALLY SHRINKS SO BE CAREFUL TO NOT OVER-DRY. I did a little seam work with rubbing alcohol and a sanding block (very fine grade paper).

I painted the jacket. The paint use is enamel just like the stuff used in the 40’s (minus the lead). As most of you know, I painted about 50 leather patches for George Lucas’s new Red Tails movie so I can paint Tuskegee subjects on autopilot by now! Roberto also did lots of jacket art for the film as well as Diamond Dave (crusher caps) and of course – Good Wear Leather for the A-2 jackets. Anyway, here are a few patches that were recently made but not for the film. Also, there has been a bit of discussion about nametags for A-2’s. The guy who makes then for Good Wear seems to make the best ones (many folks make nice ones)but I decided to try myself seeing as I had the correct leather. This was done with those mini screwdrivers one uses to work on models, eyeglasses, etc. tooled into/pressed into the leather. I wanted the letters to not be quite as sharp as on a "new" tag however the crispness of the original tags does hold up very well.

G. - as always - GREAT AERO - LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Oh - of course 1944 for Tall in the Saddle - thanks!

 

[Curahee]

Fantastic work CBI ! really love the 1940's touch.

 

[smoos]

Looks fabulous. Can you describe how much the jacket shrunk?

 

[Cobblers161]

I absolutely love this, you've done an excellent job. Am I right in thinking it's the new seal japanese hh?

 

[dujardin]

splendid jacket in everyways

great one

good jobbbbbb

marcel

 

[cmk-2]

What a great job. Did you some how keep the knitts from getting wet as I would think they would shrink even more then the leather? Robin

 

[ausreenactor]

Very impressive work! Well done...your instructions for the hot water treatment are awesome...and you seem to have perfected the drying/shrinkage war. Thanks very much..we as a forum are the wiser for it, and it is great to look at!!

Couchy

 

[CBI]

Its the new HH from Japan. I would say it shrunk almost ONE HALF SIZE - however, wearing the jacket half dry, there was a lot of stretching and shaping to the body which customized the fit if you will.. The knits were soaked as well. They seemed to work just fine, possibly shrunk as well. I have noticed on some Eastmans that the knits do stay a slightly larger size. I was thinking about the hot water treatment and I believe I have done this to about 30 A-2's. Works best with the best leather and this new HH from Japan that John uses is just TERRIFIC! In re shrinkage - less drying, less shrinking.

When I can I will take pics and post my GW russet Werber (new HH from Japan) that has had the same process (but no artwork).