In many old pictures I've seen helmets that look like some kind of thin white-wash has been applied in the field. Kind of looks like the white wash I've seen on some scale tank model kits. Anybody got any idea what they were doing to them? Or was it just from the battle wear and tear?
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This definition from Wikipedia:
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, or calsomine is a type of inexpensive paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk (whiting). Other additives have historically included water glass, glue, Portland cement, salt, soap, milk or flour.
Whitewash cures through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form calcium carbonate in the form of calcite, a reaction known as carbonatation.
It is usually applied externally, as Tom Sawyer was famously made to do to a fence in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Occasionally it is colored and used on interiors, such as the hallways of apartment buildings. Whitewash is especially effective on adobe-like materials because it is absorbed easily and the resultant chemical reaction hardens the substrate.
Lime wash is pure slaked lime in water. It produces a unique surface glow due the to refraction of calcite crystals.HC -
Yes, but is this what they were doing to helmets out in the field maybe to make them blend in with the surroundings better?Comment
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What I know is that in the field soldiers apllied applied that calcimite chalk with some white paint as this was eassier to scrubb off when winter was over.
Although thiker paints were sometimes used.Comment
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These 2 helmets have a white wash camo. This is the more common style of "winter" camo (as opposed to actual white paint). Still hard to find though as it was easily removedComment
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