Red preservative on RAF aircraft parts

You will find all the British specs and alternates in the Shell book, downloadable and browsable here, you need to browse the full manual then go to the blue pages at the end

http://www-static.shell.com/static/aviation/downloads/publications/aeroshellbook/aeroshellbook.pdf

The red varnish was called Preservac back in my DC3 days.

I picked up a T6 fin from Lance in Dallas and that was completely coated in cosmoline. As mentioned, a good clean with thinners and it polished up very nicely. Always interesting unpacking WW2 surplus parts…often also wrapped in post war newspapers, real time capsules.

Cosmoline is the stuff a lot of C stores such as nuts and bolts etc came packed in as a preservative. I never saw it used on anything bigger probably because it was a wretch to remove. If you can imagine really thick and sticky Castrol GTX. The Anhydrous Lanolin came out of the tube like toothpaste, though I think you could order pre-mixed.

The good thing about Cosmoline was you could scrape it out of the bag to ‘glue’ nuts in when working in difficult places to stop the nut falling out of the socket and ending up in the most awkward place on the aircraft.

Preservative

Was this PX stuff the same, or similar, to Cosmoline, a US equivalent?

Anon.

Gents,

Thank you all very much for taking the time to post your replies. I guessed that the answer to my question would be here within hours & you haven’t disappointed me!

Now off to the garage to put your suggestions into practice..

Thanks again

Rich

Back in the annals of time when I did my FT at Halton; one of the last phases was Preservation and Packing, where, after the inevitable death by OHP, the practical section was inhibiting a Gnome engine on a stand and then putting it in an MVP bag. After wrapping each pipe in miles of green polythene we then had to spray the green stuff on; and as I recall it was referred to as Anhydrous Lanolin. It came in a tube and it was thinned down for spraying using lots of Avtur.

When we finished doing that and had sealed the engine in a MVP Bag (using the daft zip system which provoked more bad language than any other kit I ever used) we had to take them out, and you guessed it – strip all the lanolin off with Avtur and take all the tape off ready for the next course. We were all like gardeners for a week after that phase with bright green fingers.

PX9 rings a bell – but it was 1985!

If the parts are small enough chuck them in a bucket of AVGAS, thinners, white spirit and leave em overnight, you will find it comes of easy then with a brush or a rag.

PX-3 ? (I believe PX-1 is (was) the green stuff).

Stuck like the proverbial to an airman’s blanket!

Can be removed with most decent solvents but DON’T breathe in the fumes or get them on your skin.

Aaaaghhhhh !! My memory fades.

Remember this stuff well,from my early years in RAF. It’s an official preservative used from WW-2 onwards, a sort of greasy goo that was painted on Air Craft metal spares,but probably vanished in early 1950’s. It’s not Lanolin,but is full of nasty ingredients that you do not need to absorb through your skin or eat. I’m sure it was called :- P ? (3?) (Not PRC) But my memory lets me down more often these days. I seem to remember there was was a Green Equivalent around at the same time. Yes, It can be shifted with White spirits,thinners,petrol,etc,etc. Don’t go licking your fingers after working in this stuff. 😮 :dev2:

Bill T.

Red lanolin.

Lanolin?

It will come off with Thinners or Petrol.

I cant remember what it is off hand!

Bruce