M870A1 Acquisition Thread

Lookin good.

Painted the brown and black today. I think it came out pretty slick.

Still have some black to add and have to touch up a few areas.

I think its shaping up to be a pretty good lookin' trailer.

Wow that looks great! !!

Looks great!!!!

Very nice!

One thing that I notice when I've painted the color pattern is that when you do the brown, it all looks wrong and makes you think you messed up until you add the black. It doesn't look right. I only put about 1 pint of brown paint on the trailer in 9 places, I think.

Looks awesome Matt! What a difference paint can make......It does not even look like the same trailer you picked up here!
Nice job on the paint....is the camo pattern in accordance with the TM I assume?

Soni

M920 said:

Looks awesome Matt! What a difference paint can make......It does not even look like the same trailer you picked up here!
Nice job on the paint....is the camo pattern in accordance with the TM I assume?

Soni

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Yeah, I used the Camouflage Painting Of Military Vehicles (TB 43-0209, OCT 1990) TM for the 3 color camo pattern.

In the past, I've always just printed out the page and squinted at the numbers, but this time I colored the pattern in photoshop and printed it out in color. It worked very well and was easier than looking at each number. The diagram in the TM actually is a 870A0, but I used it for the A1 and kinda "guessed" at the missing wheel well covers. Since I wasn't painting the wood, I removed the wood area in the diagram and it made it much easier to see what to paint on the top sides.

I actually covered up a lot of the green that spent a fair bit of time putting down on some of the D-rings, but I think it is best to paint the whole thing green initially.

I got the wood on the gooseneck installed today, but I did not take any photographs. I will try and get some tomorrow.

I have to agree with Soni Matt, it looks Awesome. Putting the color on the camo diagram sure does make a difference. Next time I will do the same thing. I agree to put down a full coat of green first, especially since the black and brown seems to fade first. And I felt the same way when I fist put the black on that something must be wrong. But when you add the third color, it makes the final paint scheme look great. Looking forward to seeing it at the show this weekend.

Looks great Matt!

Seems we have a consensus to paint green first, so I'm just going to agree. I like the full two coats and then the details, first coat being primer.

What paint are you using?

I'm using the Rapco Gillespie paint. I've always had pretty good luck with it.

I ended up using 2-1/2 gallons green, 1 pint brown, & 1 gallon black.

Excellent paint- they have worked hard at getting a good color match between both their spray cans and their gallon cans. Makes it easy to do quick little jobs and touch-ups with the spray, and have it blend in well with the existing paint. I've been using a HVLP gun on a turbine (TIP) for years and their paint just flows on.

Your trailer is looking great, I'm doing well with a M172A1, but that long deck would certainly allow multiple vehicle loads. Still thinking about your aluminum ramps, checked the Discount Ramps web site and wonder if you have the part number for the model you are using.

John

ReoRider said:

Excellent paint- they have worked hard at getting a good color match between both their spray cans and their gallon cans. Makes it easy to do quick little jobs and touch-ups with the spray, and have it blend in well with the existing paint. I've been using a HVLP gun on a turbine (TIP) for years and their paint just flows on.

Your trailer is looking great, I'm doing well with a M172A1, but that long deck would certainly allow multiple vehicle loads. Still thinking about your aluminum ramps, checked the Discount Ramps web site and wonder if you have the part number for the model you are using.

John

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I like the Gillespie paint for the ease of painting and the matching cans as well.


I'm pretty sure that the ramps are the P/N 23-20-096-02-02-LL
8' x 20" Aluminum Ramps with Double Pin-On Ends - 23,500 lb capacity per axle

I bought them from the guy I got the trailer from, but I think this is correct.

Got a LOT done today.

Got the wood all laid down and all the holes drilled. Put the deck down clips and tightened them in place. The wood is not perfect, but I'm not going to throw out $1500 of wood and start again with better wood for just a little better look. As it settles, I may be able to tighten the hold downs again and snug it up a bit more.

I installed all the lights as well, but didn't get any photos. Tomorrow, I'll put the wheels and tires back on and do the final touches for the upcoming vehicle show.

The OEM wood for the 870A1 is not 2x12, but thats what I have. Normally, the inner boards are not held down at all and can be moved to the outriggers for wide loads. With the wood I have, I don't think I could have made any of it removable. A lot of it was very warped. If I ever need to use the outriggers, I'll get some 2x12s to go there temporarily.

I'm pretty happy with the way it has turned out so far.

That looks Fantastic !!!!!!!

Looks good Matt, makes me want to finish the deck on my trailer.

White Oak, but same process. If anything it's been drying in the garage and should be read to Mill.

I'm thinking of skipping the ship-lap on mine (M871) looks like you didn't ship lap your's either. But did bevel the edge, any thoughts you'd like to share on that?

Bighurt said:

Looks good Matt, makes me want to finish the deck on my trailer.

White Oak, but same process. If anything it's been drying in the garage and should be read to Mill.

I'm thinking of skipping the ship-lap on mine (M871) looks like you didn't ship lap your's either. But did bevel the edge, any thoughts you'd like to share on that?

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The OEM wood is not ship lapped and my boards were so banana shaped that I'm not sure I would've been able to do it correctly anyhow. I put a 45 degree bevel around all the outside edges in an effort to keep the wood from splintering on the edge. The OEM wood is beveled quite a bit where the wood meets the deck in the front to back direction, but I'm not really equipped to make cuts like that.

Looks very good!!!!

You have really pulled this project together nicely! I can't wait to see it hooked up.

I went to the Arizona Military Vehicle show this weekend and displayed the 916 & 870 with a friend's M114 on the trailer. A relatively small load, but it looked cool.

I didn't get too many photographs, but I imagine more will surface as time goes by.

I think the trailer turned out excellent.