restore 500 lb bomb from WW2 (1 Viewer)

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Hello all
At Militärmuseum Sonntagberg I restore a 500 lb Bomb from ww2.
Later a 250lb and a 1000 lb
I am locking for Decals an fins.
 

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I read that some found bombs are defused by steam heating and melting out the TNT through a small hole so if true then the steel hull is intact. Is this the origin of the bombs being restored?
the two detonators were then made by the explosive ordnance disposal service and the TNT removed, I don't know how. The shell is intact and I have painted olive drab as well as the yellow marking
 
the color should be black, but where can I get the stenils from. And the fins
You can find generic US military style stencils online or can have them custom ordered from places like this:
www.armynavywarehouse.com

As far as the fins go, you may be able to find some at a military surplus dealer.

The fins are sheet metal components attached to a threaded cap and they were made in the thousands, so the assembly shouldn't be all that difficult to find.
There used to be a huge surplus dealer in Souther California called Long Beach Surplus. They used bomb fin assemblies as bases for their merchandise tables!
 
We had stencil machines that would cut the letters in cardboard . Some shipping companies probably still use them.
We used black spray paint to do the job, in the field.
If it was one man doing this holding a stiff cardboard stencil with one hand, and spraycan in another, the end result isn't going to be very clear.
Probably in the WW2 era it was done with a spray gun at the factory, probably one man holding the stencil, another spraying.
But at production rates, a rushed job.
If this was done in the field, the letters would be applied with a brush using a stencil.
Sometimes the painted letters would get so damaged during shipment the stenciling would have to be redone.

What I'm trying to say is you might be too neat.
 
We had stencil machines that would cut the letters in cardboard . Some shipping companies probably still use them.
We used black spray paint to do the job, in the field.
If it was one man doing this holding a stiff cardboard stencil with one hand, and spraycan in another, the end result isn't going to be very clear.
Probably in the WW2 era it was done with a spray gun at the factory, probably one man holding the stencil, another spraying.
But at production rates, a rushed job.
If this was done in the field, the letters would be applied with a brush using a stencil.
Sometimes the painted letters would get so damaged during shipment the stenciling would have to be redone.

What I'm trying to say is you might be too neat.
I want visitors to the museum to see that the bombs were labeled at all, this is never clear from the films and photos because black writing is more likely to be lost on Olivdrab. I only know that I would have to have the stencils made in this size, so it's cheaper for me to order some that you stick on and then fix with a matt clear varnish
By my Dodge are with stencil
 

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