Found Match for Radiant Red

[Chris]

After buying my radiant red Covette 5 Speed, I wanted to repaint it as close to original as possible. I bought some of the factory-matched aluminum color base coat from Hyper-Formance, but I was having a hard time finding a match for radiant red that I was satisfied with.

I tried the Dupli-color Metalcast Red that has been mentioned on the forum, it was close but not an exact match (too red). I took my fork neck into the local Sherwinn Williams Automotive paint store, and after some testing, the store found a ready-made red tinted clear base coat (what they call a mid-coat) that looked close. I took it home and sprayed it over the aluminum base coat from Hyper-Formance. The results are below along with the paint info from Sherwinn Williams.

I would like thoughts on the match, think it is pretty close.

 

[GTs58]

After scrutinizing those pictures over and over, I'm betting that's as close to matching R. Red as you're going to get with today's paint. Keep us posted on your restoration!

 

[WES PINCHOT]

LOOKS GOOD!

 

[schwinnbikebobb]

Did you spray that with a gun or did they put it in spray cans?

 

[Dale Alan]

I played around with your pic,adding light,shadows,etc . It seems to match very well through my experiments,but my skills are very limited. Here it is cropped with some fill light added.The dark bar between the two reds is the shadow.

 

[GTs58]

That sure helps Dale. Trying to compare the candy paint on a flat and a round surface is going to throw you off. I usually use a 1 1/2" piece of ABS pipe for my tests and then set it next to or slightly over the steertube for the taste test. That way the reflection and shadows on both pieces will be the same.
I still think Chris has a match.

 

[Dale Alan]

That sure helps Dale. Trying to compare the candy paint on a flat and a round surface is going to throw you off. I usually use a piece of 1 1/2" piece of ABS pipe for my tests and then set it next to or slightly over the steertube for the taste test. That way the reflection and shadows on both pieces will be the same.
I still think Chris has a match.

I think it's a match too .Thanks for the great idea on using a piece of ABS for the test,I will surely be using your trick.

 

[SHO2010]

Looks pretty close would like to see the bike when you are finished. I did the same thing at my local auto paint store with my front fork from my 54 Opal Red Jaguar. After going thru a bunch of samples the counter man said if I wanted leave the fork for a couple days they would do a color match this is the estimate they gave me. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet but this a start.

 

[Chris]

Did you spray that with a gun or did they put it in spray cans?

I used what is called a Pre Valve sprayer sold at Sherwin Williams auto paint. The sample shown is two coats of the mid-coat Sherwin Williams red paint over two coats of the factory-matched aluminum base coat from Hyper-Formance. I'm having some put into spray cans at Sherwin Williams this week. I'll post pics of the Covette 5 speed with the aluminum base coat next, before I spray the red Sherwin Williams top coat.

 

[GTs58]

I don't know where you're at with the frame prepping, but I suggest taking measurements of all the decals for size and for the exact placement before stripping or blasting the frame. I've seen to many restorations where the decals are incorrect or out of scale and the placement is wrong. The 5 speed chain guard decals leave no room for error. The top tube shifter decal location is another one that many mess up. There are too many sellers on eBay that are selling bogus decals, especially the fork darts, and I can spot a repaint a mile away with just those fat line fork dart decals. Having all these details will save you from a lot of headaches in the final stages.