Gurttrommel 34

[IanC]

Friends,

I picked up a black Gurttrommel 34 at a recent fair and was wondering if it had been painted this colour post-war? From the existing scratches there appears to be be no colour underneath just the silver of the metal.

Also there appears to be a lot of MG34\42 spare barrel containers at the recent fairs I have been at. They are also black (and mainly dated 43). Would these be post war painted?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Ian

[Tim G]

Re black kit

Hi thier,

Dont know for 100% but i genrally consider the black kit to be of post war origins, even if it was from original stampings etc i dont recall the ww2 kit ever being finished in that colour or even that type of paint. Even late war kit
that did not end up with a top coat would genrally end up with a coat of red oxide.

They should also attract a lower price as far as im concerned, but i grant you if you give it a blast and paint it you get a decent repro for the reenactors at a value price. Better than taking out your nice authenticated period kit.

Not sure where it has all appeared from, particularly the barrel carriers, think the last batch of green painted kit came from norway. Nice to see it appearing but i wonder when it will all run out.
Regards
Tim

[Hans Zeug]

Friends,

I picked up a black Gurttrommel 34 at a recent fair and was wondering if it had been painted this colour post-war? From the existing scratches there appears to be be no colour underneath just the silver of the metal.

Also there appears to be a lot of MG34\42 spare barrel containers at the recent fairs I have been at. They are also black (and mainly dated 43). Would these be post war painted?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Ian

I think you will find that Ryton Arms are importing a lot of MG and MG related equipment such as Gurtrommel,barrel containers,P tins,ammo boxes and MG34 and 42s which are ex Russian Arsenal and most of which equipment has been refinished by the Russians.I bought a Gurttrommel from Ryton arms last year WaA stamped,dated and three letter coded which i was very pleased with,this too is finished in black and is a genuine war time piece just used later by another user.Not sure if its paint or a blued finish,will have a look after work.Regards Jerry.

[ChrisCook]

Gurttrommel and others....

Black paint would be a postwar repaint, now what you can try is this....and be patient!
Use fingernail Polish remover and very lightly buff off the black overpaint with circular strokes, you might find some nice original paint hiding underneath. Straight acetone is too strong. Use Q tips to get into hard to reach spots. I am currently cleaning up the accessory periscope for the MGZ sight, postwar Norwegian repaint. Coming along fairly well. Just a thought. A lot of these items are coming out of Yugoslavia, a lot has already came out of Norway. Chris....

[dannyIII]

you are wasting yout time trying to strip off the black finish with any kind of solvent as all these 50 round containers and spare barrel containers are actually chemically darkened similar to gun blue and not painted. They are all original WWII items most of them have the marks/codes clearly visible and are ex Wehrmacht captured stock and altered by the Soviets for resale post war same as the mg34s from the same source. As for black painted 50 round drums there were some originally painted black during WWII not very common but do exist as a few years ago I got some that had been taken from the tunnels in Jersey which were sealed up in 1946 by the British Army so unlikely to be post war repaint. Along with the blackened 50 round drum mags there are also a lot of Russian paint (pea green) ammo tins carrying frames and other bits and pieces again all original but Russian repaints.
Hope this helps

[IanC]

Thanks for all the replies and for clearing that one up.

Regards

Ian