Vulcan Painters Wins Military Coatings Award

February 3, 2015 — Vulcan Painters Inc. was recognized with a Military Coatings Project Award of Excellence by SSPC —The Society for Protective Coatings, at its annual meeting Feb. 3 in Las Vegas NV. Vulcan Painters CEO David Boyd organized five additional painting contractors and 12 suppliers who donated materials, to paint seven historic United States Army tanks and armored vehicles. The project benefits the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Foundation (NACHF). The NACHF positioned the finished tanks on a walking path at Pattons' Park, near the site where the future Armor and Cavalry Museum will be built at Ft. Benning GA. Pattons' Park was dedicated on Veterans' Day 2014.

In addition to plaques commemorating the award, the six contractors, Abhe & Svoboda Inc., Main Industries Inc., Coatings Unlimited Inc., Thomas Industrial Coatings Inc., Champion Painting Specialty Services Inc., and Vulcan Painters, each received a framed photograph of the tank their firm painted where it now resides at Patton's Park.

Suppliers The Sherwin Williams Co., U.S. Coatings, Carboline Co., Chlor*Rid International Inc., RPB Safety LLC, Mohawk Garnet Inc., Corrosion Specialties Inc., Axxiom Manufacturing Inc., International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 77, Eagle Industries, and Stewart Supply , also received plaques for their participation in the project. Cory Allen, Vulcan's director of quality systems, was project manager on site at Ft. Benning.

The project started In late July 2014 with Vulcan erecting two containments on the site of the Ft. Benning Museum Restoration Shop. Painting started the last week of July, with contractors rotating in and out of the site, and all seven tanks were finished by Sept. 1. Vulcan CEO David Boyd estimated the cost of the donated materials and labor at $150,000.

The future museum will house the Army's immense collection of armor and cavalry vehicles, smaller artifacts, and records dating back 200 years. The NACHF has a multiphase plan to build the museum, expected to cost $50 million,v through fundraising from private donors. The Armor collection was brought to Ft. Benning from Ft. Knox through the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) program. The collection had outgrown its previous home at the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox.