I've got a question about the paint. I ought to know better than to second-guess Don Hutchinson, but here I go:

I found what appeared to be an unmolested patch of original paint on the underside of a '67 N15CS tank on a client's bike, so I asked my painter to match it.

We sourced all the materials from Don Hutchinson and the painter shot a sample WITHOUT the dry Red metalflake added to the paint, it appears to be a perfect match with just the "Candy Apple" metallic paint-



So, the painter was completing the sanding prep on the underside, prior to shooting the primer underneath, and came across a patch of paint that has the metalflake in it (no photo, sorry). So, he shot a sample of the paint with the dry 'flake added, and it looks to me to be quite "sparkly".

Here's the question: Anyone here have one of these model bikes with original paint, and can you see obvious metalflakes in the paint (instead of just the ultr-fine metallic sparkle)?

Thanx.

What does the customer want? This bike isn't going to be exactly stock anyways.

As close to the original color as possible.

i'm inclined to have the painter apply the flake that Don supplied.

I think my G80CS Matchless scrambler uses the same candy apple red paint. There is no metalflake in the stock paint. It is a silver base with a very thin layer of the candy red over it so the silver shows through it. The formula and method for this is listed in Christian's Archives. Much info on the hybrids available there.

One drawback with the original paint is that it fades and lightens over time. Probably Don Hutchinson's scheme would be better off in the long run.

GP ,
if you put 10 originals next to each other , they would all be different .
They gradually fade to orange , depending on how much time they have spent in the sun .
The shift to orange is obvious on your example .
The original colour wasn't metallic , but a translucent red over a silver base .
The best match I found is this :

This is the base coat and before it is dry you charge heavily with clear ( wet on wet ) .
It is the clear coat that ' pulls' the red out of the base coat .
It requires some practice from the painter to get the correct effect :
the 'wetter' you aply the clear coat , the darker and deeper the red .
I doubt dat you can get this paint in the US , if you can still get it at all , but I am shure you can find similar systems .
This is a cover (l) that I painted several years ago , compared to a good original (r) :

A PC isn't the best medium to represent original colours :
it looks too flat and too brown-ish .
The colour looks way better in reality .
If there was any sun out , I would take a pic in te sun to show the true depth of the colour .
I made it a tiny bit darker red to compensate for the shift to orange .
If it where a matter of life or death , or if you lived any closer , I would give you the paint . I still have plenty for 4 or 5 bikes .
But you live close to the Mexican border , right ?
Go to Mexico , they are the champions for trick painting .

Righty-O.

Don recommended, and my painter followed, the Silver Sheen base, and the early clear.

I'm going to let Klink make his decision on this one.