Looks like old pics from Aberdeen Proving grounds, but I heard they are closing there and moving to the Army Transport Museum at Fort Eustis (sp?)_ in Virginia.

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Looks like old pics from Aberdeen Proving grounds, but I heard they are closing there and moving to the Army Transport Museum at Fort Eustis (sp?)_ in Virginia.

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Mike wins the Cigar.

So with Billions spent bailing out everybody,can they not afford a couple of thousand for paint?


Heck ship it to me I will get it painted.

Would not mind that 88 MM as a Lawn ornament.

I guess it prevents someone from tossing an old T-34 spedometer into the trashcan to end up in a local landfill.

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Looks like old pics from Aberdeen Proving grounds, but I heard they are closing there and moving to the Army Transport Museum at Fort Eustis (sp?)_ in Virginia.

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Mike wins the Cigar.

So with Billions spent bailing out everybody,can they not afford a couple of thousand for paint?


Heck ship it to me I will get it painted.

Would not mind that 88 MM as a Lawn ornament.

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It's not the cost of the paint, it is the environmental waste created while restoring the equipment. A lot of the paint originally used and leaking petroleum products must be reclaimed and disposed of while sandblasting and pressure washing the vehicles. There are very high associated costs involved with that process. There are also radiological hazards that must be addressed. Many of the old dials contain radioactive particles to make them luminescent (just like the old military compasses). There are now federal laws in place that restrict what can and can't be done to the vehicles. It does seem ridiculous to think that there are nuclear hazards because of the markings on a dial inside a tank, but they are there. I guess it prevents someone from tossing an old T-34 spedometer into the trashcan to end up in a local landfill.

The entire collection will be indoors at Fort Lee, VA. The Leopold railway gun will be moved into place on the museum floor and the museum built around it. The move will take place over three years 2010-2012.

Point well taken Rob but comes down to the fact of how can an a separate individual,even though rich carry off the rebuilding and painting and restoring of WW2 vehicles and given the Government's unlimited amount of resources not be able to get stuff painted and restored and put into buildings so, the aging process will not be so bad.
I give you the Late Mr. Jacques Littlefield as the example even though a billionaire still was able to do so.
Seems to me they would rather blow smoke of why not ,then yes we can and a better project then some of the latest that are on their agenda.

The Europeans and Russians seem to do a heck of a lot better in it then the U.S. does.

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Point well taken Rob but comes down to the fact of how can an a separate individual,even though rich carry off the rebuilding and painting and restoring of WW2 vehicles and given the Government's unlimited amount of resources not be able to get stuff painted and restored and put into buildings so, the aging process will not be so bad.
I give you the Late Mr. Jacques Littlefield as the example even though a billionaire still was able to do so.
Seems to me they would rather blow smoke of why not ,then yes we can and a better project then some of the latest that are on their agenda.

The Europeans and Russians seem to do a heck of a lot better in it then the U.S. does.

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If I was the installation commander and had a limited budget that I needed to manage, painting old museum pieces would be low on my list of priority. There are probably hundreds of unfunded requirements on any military base that get deferred to next year or get a band-aid applied to hold it over until the powers that be decide the base can get the money to preserve historic armor pieces.

Unlike a private individual who can decide what he wants to do with his disposable income, we are responsible to the American taxpayer for the money we spend. Given the choice between putting in a new playground at a 1950s era housing area and painting old tanks sitting in a field, the quality of life improvement will get the vote every time.

Many of the display vehicles painted here at Fort Knox were done by extra duty personnel. Fort Knox is one of the few installations that has a stockade (Regional Correction Facility) and has the only Deserter Information Point (place where any deserter who is eventually picked up years later at a routine traffic stop is sent). Because of these two facilities, Ft. Knox does a lot of court-martials, so soldiers awaiting trial are assigned to the Personnel Control Facility (sort of like a pre-trial confinement barracks). The soldiers are then put to work painting stuff, raking leaves, etc. while they await court-martial or separation from the Army.