I have a Preway L43-PA lantern. Anyone know of a good match for the paint that comes in an aerosol can? I had a hardware store color match the paint and they mixed a can of oil/alkyd paint. The color was great but the paint was difficult to work with. I applied the paint on the fount and ran into problems with it not thinning properly and the pigments separating. The shade also changed once I applied the clear coat. Once dried, it turned into a completely different green far from what it looked like from the start. I feel more comfortable working with an aerosol paint. Any suggestions on what to use to match the color?
I had some custom color matched DuPont Centari acrylic enamel automotive paint mixed in "Preway green". It's all used up. Find a place that does auto paint and bring a vent with you when you go there. The smallest batch they would do is 1/2 pint. Then they loaded it into "rattle cans" for me. It's not going to be cheap. About $15-$20/can. But if the guy mixing the paint is "good" he can nail the color match. They have swatch cards with a "peep hole" to lay over the sample that gives you/them a close match. That swatch card has a mix formula. Some places have an electronic scanner for color match. But it needs a flat surface about 1 foot square to get a good read. To find a match in the DIY/hardware stores aerosol paint aisle is going to be next to impossible. Bob
Bob- You gave me a can of that paint. Color was right on the money. Acrylic enamel as I remember. Dan
Hi Dan, Are the mix code numbers on that can I sent you? If so that's all that's needed to get that color match duplicated at a DuPont Auto Paint distributor. Bob
Unfortunately, the can has no hand written mix numbers on it. There is "Preway Green" and another title (which escapes me at the moment) of green underneath. Bob could this be a stock color? Dan
I'm just now repainting one. I found Rust-Oleum "Painter's Touch Ultra Cover" No.249072 "Leafy Green" is as close as I can get off the shelf. Unfortunately, it's satin finish, so I may have to rub it out and clear coat to give it a shiny finish like the original, but it's awfully close. DMV
DMV, thanks for being the guinea pig. I saw that one on the shelf and passed because it was satin. I agree that it is a close match. Let me know your results.
Hi Dan, Now I remember. That batch of paint started out as a close match. Then the guy that no longer works there added a bit of this and some of that color to nail the color match. So in the case of that Preway green there was no specific mix formula. He matched it to the ventilator, not the fount. My "paint guru" for color matched paint moved to Florida and got a job with Homeland Security I've been told. Bob
Tint-wise, it's just about perfect. I did have to clear coat it to shine it up. I had some interactions between the paint and the clear coat which ultimately affected the quality of the finished product but then, I'm not particularly a whiz at metal finishing. DMV
As I mentioned in the origianl post, the color coat I applied also had a strange reaction to the application of clearcoat. I had the vent color-matched and the paint color was a ringer but as soon as I applied clear coat, the pigments separated. The resulting color became a brighter green. Are the preway founts semi gloss? They don't look high gloss to me. I might try the satin but without the clear coat...just sanding and waxing it until I get close to a semi-gloss...
I put on too thick a coat of clear enamel, and I guess the underlying coat of paint wasn't quite dry enough (I thought overnight would have been adequate drying time), and the clear coat made the underlying paint pucker up. I tried to sand it down and feather the edge, but it kept puckering up at the sanded edge when I clear-coated it. So, I eventually got an acceptable coat of paint, albeit too thick, but I did get the clear enamel on in four or five really thin coats without appreciable puckering. The result was that the clear coat, in addition to giving the fount just a little sheen, darkened the paint ever so slightly, and it was even a better match than it had been just out of the spray can. The finished fount is virtually indistinguishable as to hue from the ventilator. The clear coat I used is Rust-Oleum "crystal clear enamel" No. 7701 DMV
Sounds to me like you fellas have experienced the same "painting woes" that I used to suffer from. To be honest I JUST PLAIN SUCKED! Then I had an old auto body guy "school" me. "Sand your primer coat to the finish you want the finish coat." By that he meant smooth as a baby's butt. I sand the primer with a white Scotchbrite pad then go to 1000 grit wet or dry. His next pearl of wisdom, "If you can paint on an old pane of glass, you can paint on anything." What this taught me is that I was "crowding" the work. I had to back off to about 15-16 inches. Every spray can has a different spray pattern. If you get to close the droplets are to big and you'll get runs. It also taught me that you shoot until the piece looks "wet". Next comes the "flash time". Most off the shelf cans have about a 10-15 minute flash time. That's how long you wait before you second coat. Again shoot until it looks wet. Now for the clear coat. Wait for the flash time and shoot the clear right over the color coat. I think that perhaps that one should keep the paint brands the same for color and clear. This was Rustoleum Painters Choice Navy Blue gloss and their gloss clear. Here's the results after I was "schooled". My AGM 288 restore. I didn't even have to rub this out. After about a month I waxed it with some Zymol. Experiment on an old pane of glass to get you techniques down. Once you get your "comfort level" where you want it, start shootin'! Good luck! Bob
