Looking for some original paint metal flake photos.

marc · Oct 31, 2016

hello fellow Norton riders. after four years of riding my Commando in black i want to get a second Tank with side pannels this winter and paint it in Metal flake. i think i have narrowed it down to either blue or golden bronze. while browsing the web i saw a lot of repaints. i would love to see some pictures of the original paint that i could show to my painter. would be great if anyone who still has an Original paint flake Commando could share some. thanks

Rohan · Oct 31, 2016

This Fireflake Blue Mk2A was on UK fleabay just recently

Looking for some original paint metal flake photos.

Think it said it was a repaint, but someone seems to have captured those flakes rather well.
I'm working on doing a similar scheme.

This will probably trigger a discussion about whether the 850 ones had such pronounced flake.
The blue flakes can be bought in various sizes, and maybe the 850 ones weren't quite so pronounced ????
I have seen other similar looking fireflake blue examples though.

No-one seems to have the colour chart for 1973 or 1974 though,
all the ones seen in captivity seem to be 1970 or 1971.
For which this blue is an excellent match....

Note that the twin pinstripe scheme was for 850 models, but of recent times seems to be spreading to the 750 models. Its their bike, can do what they want of course....

peter12 · Oct 31, 2016

Im sure this has been covered recently in some detail and someone has the charts.
I bought a 71 750 in the late 70's and my recollection was of a similar colour, cannot say if the flakes were as large though. My understanding was that the flakes by 73, 74 were a lot more subtle. I had an interstate tank painted in the candy apple red and attempted to get it as close as I could to a Norton colour, it was had much smaller flakes. I certainly remember rows of tanks at DGA Clarks, would have been late 80's. Don't recall large flakes.
Don't know if this helps but look up recent posting, within the last 6 months I think.

Danno · Oct 31, 2016

From looking at pictures and from what I remember, the flakes used in the gelcoat of fiberglass tanks and sidecovers were quite a bit larger than those of the later models with metal body parts. The metal parts were actually painted whereas the fiberglass stuff had the flakes embedded into the layers of resin, probably during the moulding process.

peter12 · Oct 31, 2016

I think you are right Danno, my tank was fibreglass, I remember replacing it with a steel Interstate tank.

Danno · Oct 31, 2016

Much easier to come out with a smooth finish with the large flakes if you are blasting them on the inside of several layers of clear gelcoat in a mould than trying to cover up their irregularities with clear on top. But it can be done with lots of patience, successive coats of clear and lots of careful wet sanding.

grandpaul · Oct 31, 2016

If you get your paint supplies from Don Hutchinson, you'll get the right results.

DogT · Oct 31, 2016

Detail pic of the area under the rubber grommet that is on the rear of the side panel from an Apr '69 S type, registered '70. It should be a pretty good representation of the early flake. Note the panel was painted black. I'm certain that this was the original paint/gel coat as I bought the bike in '72 with 4000 miles on it.

I did notice when I removed the black paint by sanding, and then got into the gel coat which was of course dulled by that, as soon as I got into the gel coat, the panels turned pretty much whitish silver flake. It seems to my untrained eye that the finish had a silver flake base, then a blue color with black flakes in it and finally coated with clear gel. But that's just my untrained painter's eye/opinion. Some of the re-paint flake I see seems to have gold in it, don't think there was any gold in the early flakes unless it was bronze.

I probably have the original picture if you want me to send a copy.

jimbo · Oct 31, 2016

If you want the large flakes as early fiberglass bikes , try bass boat paint supplies.

grandpaul · Oct 31, 2016

Don Hutchinson will also give you and/or your painter EXTENSIVE step-by-step application instructions to exactly reproduce the original finishes on all classic Britbikes. There is definitely ONE right way, and MANY wrong ways (although most of the wrong ways also look okay)

Rohan · Oct 31, 2016

peter12 said:
Im sure this has been covered recently in some detail and someone has the charts.

I'm sure we don't have any color charts later than 1971. !!
I took part in those 'recent detailed discussions', and we have been asking
- for years - if anyone has the color insert for the brochure for 1972 or 73 or 74 or 75.
So far with no results....

I assembled a possible 1973 version - still looking into some options and getting better color swatches.
Anyone got the genuine article. ?

I'd agree that the candy apple red used a basecoat of smaller sliver flakes than the fireflake colors did.
The painted fireflake colors were done entirely with colored flakes over a suitable basecoat color from the examples I've seen.

gortnipper · Oct 31, 2016

Look here - this-metalflake-paintscheme-original-norton-t14792-30.html#p178697

And here - fire-flake-roman-purple-t20498-15.html

Danno · Oct 31, 2016

This looks pretty close for my purposes.

B+Bogus · Oct 31, 2016

All the original ones I've seen have suffered rather badly due to sun bleaching or being polished through.

Nice to see my bike though - which is still for sale, incidentally :wink:

I formed the impression that folks over here prefer black with gold pinstripes, so the tinware may get swapped for a black set I have and if anyone wants the FF blue set drop me a PM

Rohan · Oct 31, 2016

Yes, this subject keeps going around and around....
That is a nice bike.

This is what I've recently gone with.

gortnipper · Oct 31, 2016

B+Bogus said:
All the original ones I've seen have suffered rather badly due to sun bleaching or being polished through.

Nice to see my bike though - which is still for sale, incidentally :wink:

I formed the impression that folks over here prefer black with gold pinstripes, so the tinware may get swapped for a black set I have and if anyone wants the FF blue set drop me a PM

That is a shame.

I have a black/gold steel Interstate set which I will keep (need to paint the sidecovers).

I also have a steel hirider tank and roadster sidecovers which were resprayed black/gold before I got the bike in 1989. I hope to do these in FF blue or maybe candy apple red.

Danno · Oct 31, 2016

I like polyurethane clear with the pearl or flake mixed in. You can go over it in clear and it makes a really durable finish, totally gasproof and polishable. Only drawback is it's catalyzed and you have to use what you mix and get the rest out of the gun before it sets up. Mixing small quantities is recommended, but mix a large amount of uncatalyzed clear/flake and only add catalyst to the cup or it's difficult to get a consistent blend.

Rohan · Nov 1, 2016

B+Bogus said:
All the original ones I've seen have suffered rather badly due to sun bleaching or being polished through.

An individual fireflake blue sidecover, still looking to be in fine fettle.

rivera · Nov 1, 2016

An untouched 1970 Commando S in Fireflake Royalblue

DogT · Nov 1, 2016

If that 70 S has been untouched, why does it have a gold decal with black outline?

Looking for some original paint metal flake photos.

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