Legal in uk to paint van camouflage?

Combat squirrel · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:10

As title whats the deal ? I would have thought not as it would literally do what camouflage does and make it harder to see on the road - I'm not talking camouflage 'design' I'm talking military grade printed and wrapped MTP or other similar camo pattern :eek:

Additionally how come Army service vehicles don't do this ? (they tend to be block colours) - it's not intended to be to hide during travel. more when its parked up somewhere scenic to blend in, not be a big white blob on the landscape.

ttaskmaster · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:21

Perfectly legal, AFAIK... just sounds like it'd look awful.
Long as you have the relevant lights, reflectors and so on, should be fine. No silver on black registration plates, though.
TBH, camouflage patterns don't really work so well in urban environments anyway, so you'll just look like a Texas gun enthusiast.

Combat squirrel said:
Additionally how come Army service vehicles don't do this ? (they tend to be block colours) - it's not intended to be to hide during travel. more when its parked up somewhere scenic to blend in, not be a big white blob on the landscape.

Small things benefit from DPM camouflage, but on larger things the pattern tends to just blur into a big Landie-shaped DPM blob, which makes it stand out.

Combat squirrel · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:25

ttaskmaster said:
Perfectly legal, AFAIK... just sounds like it'd look awful.
Long as you have the relevant lights, reflectors and so on, should be fine. No silver on black registration plates, though.
TBH, camouflage patterns don't really work so well in urban environments anyway, so you'll just look like a Texas gun enthusiast.

Small things benefit from DPM camouflage, but on larger things the pattern tends to just blur into a big Landie-shaped DPM blob, which makes it stand out.

Thanks ! interesting stuff

Yeah was thinking either that or just a dark green lol

ttaskmaster · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:26

Combat squirrel said:
Yeah was thinking either that or just a dark green lol

Green and black blotches would likely be reasonable and fairly 'authentic', since that's what a lot of military vehicles are painted in.

Rroff · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:29

Unless you specifically want it military (or say safari) look permanently I'd just grab some camouflage tarpaulin and/or scrim netting that can be attached and deployed around the vehicle in situation.

Not sure if its the reason why military vehicles are often block colours but I spent a little while working with some guys from 1 para (not military myself) and they basically just repainted their vehicles a base colour suited to the environment they'd end up in and then if necessary hung netting on parts of it populated with localised vegetation (which didn't usually happen).

kaptainmarc · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:49

Seen loads of trucks/vans wrapped in that god awful real tree pattern round fishing lakes

I can see why, fish will run a mile if they see a van pull up

Rroff · 15 Sep 2016 at 13:56

kaptainmarc said:
Seen loads of trucks/vans wrapped in that god awful real tree pattern round fishing lakes

My favourite is the darkened variant of 93 Pantera (can't find a picture of it online off hand but has more of the dark colours and less of the red/brown), DPM-95 and MTP aren't bad most other camo patterns look a bit gash to me.

Finglonga · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:00

Real Tree FTW......You can hardly see it.

tom_e · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:03

To be fair the **** poor licence plate does do a good job of camouflaging his registration number.

The only thing you can't do to a vehicle when it comes to colour schemes is use reflective battenburg AFAIK everything else including non reflective battenburg is acceptable.

Rroff · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:10

Finglonga said:
Real Tree FTW......You can hardly see it.

Looks more like someone upset a flock of seagulls.

Kuros · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:13

The reason the military don't do it is that there's no point to in the country.

Think how long it would take an autoshop to get a decent camo paintjob done on a giant truck/van compared to just spraying it basic green/black all over... Then times that by how ever many trucks/jeeps/lorries ect that are in my the armed forces.

Jamesyboyjim · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:32

Finglonga said:
Real Tree FTW......You can hardly see it.

Woahhh!! Uncanny!! I would have pulled into the left lane and accidently rear ended them!

Quartz · 15 Sep 2016 at 15:42

One of the reasons the military don't do it is that they use netting to disguise the shape.

Camo is quite often used by vehicles for Airsoft / paintball sites.

Conscript · 15 Sep 2016 at 16:47

Jamesyboyjim said:
Woahhh!! Uncanny!! I would have pulled into the left lane and accidently rear ended them!

What are you talking about? All I see if the black Hyundai and a white van, the left lane is empty.

Burnsy2023 · 15 Sep 2016 at 16:57

tom_e said:
To be fair the **** poor licence plate does do a good job of camouflaging his registration number.

Indeed. The camo look isn't illegal, but the numberplate certainly is.

K.C. Leblanc · 15 Sep 2016 at 22:16

Not illegal, but you will have to make sure your insurance company are happy with it.

Combat squirrel · 16 Sep 2016 at 10:47

Thanks guys !

All very useful feedback

Question 2:

Do I get a 4WD or 2WD van ? It's going to be a camper, used to travel around the UK and in a year or 2 Europe (before we leave the EU :mad:

- thanks idiot brexit folks - made it real easy now to travel about! lol)

Obviously most of the driving around will be roads, - 2WD then, however also looking at Norway/Sweden - and where ever the road takes me, in which case 4WD/AWD might be more useful - also some festivals - which mean fields and rain obviously.

Also more can go wrong with a 4WD, and how much more fuel will it use?

My budget for the 2nd hand van purchase is about 4-4.5k

ttaskmaster · 16 Sep 2016 at 11:52

Kuros said:
The reason the military don't do it is that there's no point to in the country.

No.
The ONLY reason we never do something is because of the costs. Everything is done by the cheapest bidder, all to save your tax dollars!

Combat squirrel said:
Obviously most of the driving around will be roads, - 2WD then, however also looking at Norway/Sweden - and where ever the road takes me, in which case 4WD/AWD might be more useful - also some festivals - which mean fields and rain obviously.

Better to have and not need, than need and not have, especially if independence and self-reliance is a factor.

Combat squirrel said:
My budget for the 2nd hand van purchase is about 4-4.5k

Look around, see what's for sale.
There are a few Mazda Bongo 4wd campervans on the 'Bay, for example.

Nasher · 16 Sep 2016 at 12:55

ttaskmaster said:
No.
The ONLY reason we never do something is because of the costs. Everything is done by the cheapest bidder, all to save your tax dollars!

That's what they tell people. But in reality it almost always ends up costing tax payers more in my experience

What happens is someone bids for a contract and wins because they bid the lowest. But then they stack the costs up later. As well as provide a shoddy service. I've been working in the public sector a few years now and the amount of times we have had to clean up after contractors is ridiculous. They like to take money for a job and either never turn up, or only do half of it. Obviously it gets swept under the carpet, because the people at the top often have a stake in these companies.

ttaskmaster · 16 Sep 2016 at 13:00

Nasher said:
That's what they tell people. But in reality it almost always ends up costing tax payers more in my experience

Stop voting so badly in all the elections, then!!

Nasher said:
What happens is someone bids for a contract and wins because they bid the lowest. But then they stack the costs up later. As well as provide a shoddy service.

Again, stop voting in the stupid people who don't understand what they're tendering out. Had people understood, or even just listened, we'd not have had to hire H&K to fix our weapons, for example!