Sun Snipe Plus, c1965
- Thread starter Spokesmann
- Start date
Re: Re:
Many thanks.
bagpuss":2o0er8fv said:
Many thanks.
Re:
It was nice to give this old machine a longer run today along the Plym Valley route...
It was nice to give this old machine a longer run today along the Plym Valley route...
FastlaneCycles
Retro Newbie
Hi, was this refinished or original paint? We have an identical model owned from new with rather bad paint we would like to take back to that original condition & finding it hard to get a painter with the right colour. Any help welcome.
FastlaneCycles":25tf6mqk said:
This is all original paint and decals.
The paint is a deep, wondrous flam green.
FastlaneCycles
Retro Newbie
Hi, Mike J. Thanks for the quick reply. Wow - what great condition after 50 odd years - obviously a well loved machine and great you use this as well. Will keep hunting a painter who will try to match this great colour. Do you know if this was originally a cellulose finish? Valentines used to do this (match) but think they are now long gone (?) will have to check out a few more painters. Not sure if I want to go the stove enamel route if originally cellulose(?) and colour ranges seem a bit limited.
FastlaneCycles":2b1lyc2e said:
I couldn't say for sure, but I know the base coat is silver, then thin layers of transparent paint are layered on top and the whole lot clear lacquered...
Silver or gold basecote and then coloured lacquer is still quite common, I do it myself but the green may be the problem, the lacquer I use and generally see is closer to the blue end of the spectrum whereas that looks to be edging toward black.
I have changed the over all end appearance of a red lacquered finish before by using dark gold rather then silver as the base coat to get a more period look on a 50's Dawes but this was a "well I'll give a go" job because I had it available which worked in my case.
Best advice though if you want it to be exact go to a decent car paint supplier and see what they can do. Google is your friend here and they should be able to mix something pretty close for you.
The issue with applying it is as @spokesman eluded to in that it needs to go on in a lot of very thin coats and slowly build up the colour because it has such a tendency to run, on flat surfaces like car panels its not too bad but on fiddly things like bike frames its not easy and you might be finding that's more the reason the painters don't want to do it because they know exactly what it is. You can see in @spokesman's last photo where even the original painter struggled to get an even colour with it as it builds up around the lugs.
I have changed the over all end appearance of a red lacquered finish before by using dark gold rather then silver as the base coat to get a more period look on a 50's Dawes but this was a "well I'll give a go" job because I had it available which worked in my case.
Best advice though if you want it to be exact go to a decent car paint supplier and see what they can do. Google is your friend here and they should be able to mix something pretty close for you.
The issue with applying it is as @spokesman eluded to in that it needs to go on in a lot of very thin coats and slowly build up the colour because it has such a tendency to run, on flat surfaces like car panels its not too bad but on fiddly things like bike frames its not easy and you might be finding that's more the reason the painters don't want to do it because they know exactly what it is. You can see in @spokesman's last photo where even the original painter struggled to get an even colour with it as it builds up around the lugs.
