I did a little reasearch online one night trying to find what the 601s were sprayed with to give them the unique color. Seeing posts on here of people using hobby shop paints got me curious.  Why not obtain the proper paint?
According to the info i read, Fairchild Group had something called Zinc Chromate on hand.  Zinc Chromate was used in certain compartments in aircraft, as well as the interior of some tanks, from this time.
Zinc Chromate is what was used to paint the 601 furniture the unique green it is.
I did deeper to see if its available.  
It is!!!
Local marine supply store website has it listed, in spray cans.  I head over and couldnt find it at first.  Then I realized i was looking right at it.
I am currently in CA and i was questioning if Zinc Chromate is even obtainable here.  Maybe it is, maybe it isnt.  But they had a slight varient of it on the shelf.
Moeller Zinc Primer
025802-1
Green Zinc Phosphate
The -1 was added as an updated part number.  Chromate is not good for you...
On the website they state this new formula is safer and equals in other aspects.
On the shelf they had green and yellow.
I believe it is naturally yellow and the green is a specific varient.
Well this stuff went on thin.  But im pretty sure its a spot on match.  Was a little shiny but a simple dry scrub pad dulled it down good.
Enjoy my 601 build progress pics
missing a few things.... and wrong year grip for now
I did use a brown primer under the zinc phosphate on only the grip.  It was a fail.  3 days later i coulf easily dig a fingernail into it.  So i did strip and redo only the grip.
This stuff was over $30 a can so not cheap, but worth every penny...
Im gonna admit, i kinda enjoyed all the dremel work on the upper to make it closer to a 601.  Even did the pinhole for the spring....

Outstanding..!!!

Great job on the homework. We used zinc chromate as a primer/corrosion protector on aircraft parts when I worked on helicopters in the Army.
That looks pretty damn good.

Excellent info, thank you!
Amazon lists the chromate version too:
Moeller chromate primer

Years ago I built an airplane, nothing fancy just an over engineered ultralight, and used this on it under the paint as a primer. I’d forgotten all about the color. As I remember it there were all kinds of warnings about using a respirator when spraying it.

Thanks OP for the information. Looks great.

Wow! That looks spot on!

wow cool deal

My mind is blown. Also it makes sense considering Armalite was owned by an aviation company.

I never put that together and back when I was into building retro clones, I worked in the aviation industry and painted a few things zinc chromate.

Great job on the color match. If someone runs up to you waving original furniture and says your color is off, just smile patronizingly and tell him his is obviously faded from age.

Getting the "exact shade" will drive you crazy because zinc chromate is yellow and tinted with black to get the color a given customer or application specifies.
Everyone knows that the cockpits of Corsairs are a different shade than the cockpits of B-17s.
The Federal Standard 595b color fan deck doesn't list colors by name, only a 5 digit code. The closest they show is FS 34151 which is way darker.
That's from Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co.

For those painting or refinishing; Testors ELO (Easy Lift Off), available at various chain stores and hobby shops, is good to consider.
It doesn't harm plastics and works by getting under paint layers and breaks the bond so the paint or decals tend to lift off as a sheet instead of turning into sludge.

You’re doing Gods work kind sir!!  My hats off to you!  Well done!!!!

ETA:  I just ordered a can for my 601 reweld project!  Thanks man!

Ok, im kinda feeling really guilty posting that info now.
I highly advise not using zinc chromate!!!
I used the phosphate alternative.

Hexavalent chromium

Im rewatching Erin Brockovich as we speak...
Holy smokes.......

WOW

makes sense



B-17




PBY

If I remember correctly the zinc chromate we had on the ship was yellow.

I bought the exact same thing you did :)

I found my can of zinc chromate primer from years ago, but apparently I didn’t seal it adequately. It was as solid as a brick.

Looks spot on to me.  Makes me wonder if they had a little shine coming off the assembly line.  I wonder if using a clear matte will take the shine away and add another layer to increase wear off time?  Also, has anyone found a tough finish for a way to mimic the brown/red bakelite finish to go underneath?

I found this the other day but haven’t tried it yet.
https://www.recoilweb.com/fake-bakelite-the-best-fakelite-recipe-165615.html

I always thought Zinc Chromate was made to especially bond to aluminum, I didn't know it would bond to plastic.  I'm far from being qualified as a painter, lol, but it makes me think that the Zinc Phosphate primer doesn't bond well with already painted or primed surfaces.  I read somewhere that Zinc Chromate actually etches into the aluminum.  I wonder if Zinc Phosphate works the same way?

In my opinion the problem with that recipe is the stain. Stain isn’t paint and doesn’t dry like paint. It will eventually dry up but takes days. The better solution in my opinion would be a gel stain that’s made for fiberglass and other nonporous surfaces. They don’t make that color in a gel so you’d have to come up with something similar.

I gave it a test run last month but haven’t had time to mess with it anymore.
Attached File

Attached File

NO SELING IN TECH. PUT AN AD IN THE EE

That is the formula you posted. It took about 4 days for the stain to dry. I’m not saying it doesn’t work it’s just not really the correct product imo. That was a quick test on a pos Numrich handguard that came busted. I’m going to give it another go soon and I’ll let you know how well it works.

I’m anxious to hear how it goes.

It is made for aluminum and steel.
Observations on OG 601 furniture validates that.
Most of the grips are worn heavily from the pics ive seen.
Its a Zinc Etching Primer.
Main duty is anti-corrosive.
I think it was just used on the 601 cause they had it.  It was short term... and never used again.

Zinc is going to be anti fungal.

Hexavalent chromium is naturally yellow in color.
Pigment is added for the green varient of this "paint"

But this is not a paint.

The zinc bonds and etches into the surface material sprayed on.  Think on metal you would use a paticular surface prep prior to applying.

The Chromate is more present at the top surface.
Chromate is going to be very strong and very anti-corrosive.

Think Chromoly plated coating.......

Chromium is very molecular dense in mass.

However Hexavalent Chromium is needed to produce Zinc Chromate.

Bad, bad, bad stuff.
So bad the military stopped using it in the 90s,

Hexavalent Chromium is a very high cation exchange rate. Theirfore, This stuff leaches out.....

Use the phosphate alternative.  

I dont believe Zinc Phosphate is going to be even close to as anti-corrosive, but who cares.  Doubtful it was the intention when it was used on rifles

Also, ive been coming on thie site for a long time... I cant post in the wanted ads...
I live in a  ban state.
I need a damn waffle mag blocked to 10.
Anyone, please??? lol

I am very interested to hear more about this as well. I have a set that would benefit from a finish like this.

Found a lot of it at the WTC recovery.  I should have saved a piece for history, it was all scrapped and sold to China.  

BTW this looks really really good.  Great job.  

There are a lot of etching primers used in the automotive refinish industry still, pretty standard practice to use anywhere there is bare metal. I think pretty similar to what was the zinc chromate in aviation but it's all chromate (and lead) free now. I'm most familiar with Martin Senour TE504, it would be the same as a Sherwin Williams product but I do not know their number. It's very similar color to that but would dry to a much more matte sheen, stuff goes on really thin. I imagine there are lots of aerosols available too. Some etch primers are gray, but colors like that are common and might be a good place to look for easy to obtain/use materials.

I worked for Honda as a tech for many years.
Honda absolutely used a Green Zinc etching primer on the bare metal body panels pre-paint.
You can see it on many Hondas in the rear underbody area where it was oversprayed.  

As far as the brown under the green goes....
That stuff posted in here looks perfecto.  But will it stay and adhere...
May wanna do some trial runs with broken pieces lol...
I think the best fix for this issue is...
Making moulds and pouring epoxy...
That way its simply just getting the color tone right..
And you know it will be paintable and right.
Def something i would do if i had lots of real hardware to make moulds from.

I realize it says 2021 for my join date.
I def have another profile i made in maybe 2010. Wasnt able to login and made a new acct... And never really posted.  Just been doing a lot of reading here...

Fake Bakelite write-up.
https://www.recoilweb.com/fake-bakelite-the-best-fakelite-recipe-165615.html

I do recommend Clear coating over Zinc Phosphate. I noticed cleaning chemicals and oil was allowing a little bit of green/yellow to leach off.

025519  Moeller Clear coat is what i used.
I ordered a Brownells Retro A1 handguard in brown.
Wetsanded it.  Sprayed it green.  Then i did someartwork removing sections of green.  3 coats of clear coat.  wetsanded.  And i scored it up some more as desired through the clear coat. As expected, the brown that was clear coated became vibrant.
My 601 project is almost complete.  I had put a Luth-ar lock washer on the muzzle, but its just way too thick, so i got a NOS colt lock washer on the way.
I did recountour my upper to 601.
I used Alumahyde-2 on the upper.  Dark Phoshate grey.  3 coats and bakes at 225 for 2 hrs in a convection oven. Its a little ligher then my H&R grey lower but at some point and time they will wear in and match better im sure.  HR lower was much lighter pre oil.
This is a fixed Mag build with a 9/20 in it.
Its a top loader......
I did make my own 601 style bolt catch.  That was not easy with hand files...
Also!  I got a Brownells A1 barrel.  It has an F stamped under barrel nut area.  Possiblly an FN barrel?  Maybe a Faxon? Idk  I measured all the countours and this does not match the previous BA profled A1s.
FSB is straight visually.  Chrome line looks decent.  Exterior finish is good.  .625 fsb was a selling point to me and brownells has a no questions asked returns policy i likr.
I did swap the silver looking brownells slip ring for a Luth-AR grey one.

Great job!  Excellent information too.

NICE!

Great info here.

I picked up some of the Zinc paint and gave it a go last night. Mixed/poor results.

I used an original bakelite grip and brown Brownells stock and handguards that I sanded.

I shook the shit out of it and put it in my drill mounted mixer. Paint sprayed in a wide vertical arc that made it hard to get paint on target without a lot of overspray and waste.

It didn't want to stick and I had to move closer to get coverage. Ended up with too heavy a layer and drip. It really didn't want to take to the bakelite, which seemed odd to me.

The color is good though, so I'll keep working with it.

As if I needed another reason to build a 601 Clone

Just wait, next you’ll fall down the 607 rabbit hole.

Swapped nozzles on my Zinc Phosphate paint. The one that came with it had a vertical slit so it was obviously intended to spray in an arc. Probably good for boats, no so much for AR furniture. Attempt 2 went much better with a regular nozzle.

I had sanded down the blobby areas from my first attempt, but not enough. I ended up with some uneven spots, even though coverage was much better the second try.

Back to the sanding. I think I have it evened up better this time. Some of the brown base stock is coming through at points and I don't actually hate it. If I'd have sued a finer grit sandpaper I'd be tempted to clear coat it and leave it.

I'm going to give it another coat though, but may consider a finer grit paper and sanding it again to allow some brown to show through like TrailSlayer1981 did on his.