Old-Time ('60s) Paint Question

[Snake45]

I'm working on restoring a model that was built in the early '70s. The paint is a dark metallic (but not metalflake) blue and appears to be a lacquer--it's thin and even but not very glossy (not clearcoated or rubbed out). I never used this color when I was a kid and don't have any particular recollection of it. Did AMT or Pactra have such a color in their lines? (Pretty sure Testor didn't, besides, this doesn't seem to be enamel.) If so, does anyone remember what it was called?

Tim Boyd? Mark? Art? Uncle Scott? Anybody?

[Ace-Garageguy]

My guess is that it would be AMT lacquer. Un-cleared and un-polished lacquer isn't particularly glossy, and sounds like what you're describing.

It's been a long time, but I seem to recall that even the AMT "metalflake" colors didn't have flakes as big as Testors bass-boat "metallic" line.

I know for a fact I shot a '56 or '57 Corvette with AMT's Lemon-Lime shown below, and it looked more like candy yellow over silver than a huge "flake".

Edited October 29, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

Very cool! It looks like it might be the Royal Blue metalflake. That's the closest color on the chart. As I said, the flakes are small and more what I'd call a metallic paint than a metalflake but you might be right about the AMT flake size.

OR it could be a Pactra paint.

Either way, many thanks for posting that color chart! Lotta memories there!

[tim boyd]

Richard....if I am remembering correctly, Pactra had a very dark blue but it was in their "Diamond Flake" line, and it may have been called "Star Blue"????

But I agree with you and Bill that it was mostly likely the AMT dark blue pictured above.....TIM  

Edited October 30, 2016 by tim boyd

[Snake45]

You're right about Pactra Star Blue (working from a couple old Auto World catalogs), but I never used that so don't know what it was.

Here's the color in question. It's a little darker than this pic (which I lightened to show other details). The stuff is not as dark as current Model Master Arctic Blue, but it's darker than Olds Engine Blue. It's not AMT Blue Fog--I have a "survivor" painted in that and it's darker.

Seems to be one, maybe two coats, no primer. If it's not a hobby paint at all, and is some kind of auto touchup paint or something of the kind, the guy was REAL lucky with it. Doesn't seem to be any crazing at all.

[Art Anderson]

From your description of the painted surface, it sure sounds like AMT lacquer to me--that stuff was so very much like today's Tamiya and Modelmaster spray lacquers; in that it laid down in very thin coats that weren't all that prone to either orange-peel or runs & sags, unlike the enamels from Pactra or Testors.

Art

[unclescott58]

I'm working on restoring a model that was built in the early '70s. The paint is a dark metallic (but not metalflake) blue and appears to be a lacquer--it's thin and even but not very glossy (not clearcoated or rubbed out). I never used this color when I was a kid and don't have any particular recollection of it. Did AMT or Pactra have such a color in their lines? (Pretty sure Testor didn't, besides, this doesn't seem to be enamel.) If so, does anyone remember what it was called?

Tim Boyd? Mark? Art? Uncle Scott? Anybody?

Thank you Snake for including with the likes of Tim Boyd, Mark, and Art. Even though I can't help you with still one, I'm flattered you thought I could.

 

[pack rat]

Very cool! It looks like it might be the Royal Blue metalflake. 

Going from memory, I would say it definitely isn't AMT Royal Blue.  Any time I used it (including over bare white plastic) I recall it being much, much darker than the paint on your Maverick.

I'm wondering if it could be Oriental Blue?........I'm sooo tempted to press this button! 

And many thanks to Bill for posting that color chart!

[Snake45]

Going from memory, I would say it definitely isn't AMT Royal Blue.  Any time I used it (including over bare white plastic) I recall it being much, much darker than the paint on your Maverick.

I'm wondering if it could be Oriental Blue?........I'm sooo tempted to press this button!

And many thanks to Bill for posting that color chart!

I think you're right about the Royal Blue. Since posting that, I remembered that I once painted an original AMT '64 GTO with that, and you're right, it's much, much darker.

It's definitely NOT Candy Oriental Blue. I did a couple cars in that and it's nothing like that. BTW, I loved the smell of that stuff. Only a couple of the AMT paints had the same smell. Every time I open a dry-erase marker, I get a whiff of AMT Oriental Blue that takes me right back to 1967.

[pack rat]

It's definitely NOT Candy Oriental Blue. I did a couple cars in that and it's nothing like that. BTW, I loved the smell of that stuff. 

You're really tempting me to pull the trigger on that can, Snake.

I never used Oriental Blue back in the day, but looking over the chart Bill posted I can visualize about a dozen kits I painted using various colors on there, and I soooo wish I could go back in time and stock up. 

Here's an AMT-lacquered survivor, the tow car from my Chevelle Drag Team resplendent in Peacock Metalflake. 

[tim boyd]

From the latest pictures and description, it almost sounds like Testors Sapphire Blue Metalflake, which in reality was less a metalflake than an overly-enthusiastic Metallic.  That color, of course, is still in Testors' lineup (though with a much-altered formula, it appears, most likely courtesy of our meddling government bureaucrats....don't get me started on that one!).   TIM 

[Snake45]

From the latest pictures and description, it almost sounds like Testors Sapphire Blue Metalflake, which in reality was less a metalflake than an overly-enthusiastic Metallic.  That color, of course, is still in Testors' lineup (though with a much-altered formula, it appears, most likely courtesy of our meddling government bureaucrats....don't get me started on that one!).   TIM 

There's nothing about this that leads me to believe it's Testor Sapphire Blue or any other kind of enamel.

Having spent the weekend working with it, I'm now seeing a certain gray-ish element in the paint, compared to other blues. If I had a can of it, I might very well do a '67 Corvette with it and try to pass it off as that one-year-only Lynndale Blue.

At any rate, the closest thing I had in the Snakepit for touch-up was Rustoleum Cobalt Blue. The touchups aren't perfect, but at least now the damaged areas (vinyl tire damage, right down to white plastic) don't grab your eye as the first things you see on the model. The whole hot mess is now under a hand-brushed coat of Future.

I have a few more little details to hand-paint, and then I'll have the thing Under Glass, hopefully this week.