# Post-War Superior - Green Paint?



## SirMike1983 (Jul 24, 2021)

I'm working on a post-war Superior, probably from 1948 or 49. It has a two-stage green paint that's apparently different from the later, Opal Green. Does anyone know what the name of this other green would be? Any suggestions on a matching touch-up paint?  It's a medium green with a little less blue in it and a little less metallic look than Opal Green.

This bike is the same green. I have the exact same model and color as this one. Mine is in roughly the same condition, maybe a touch rougher than the one below, but same color.

Photo from eBay:


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 29, 2021)

Bump - I am straining to recall what I used on Opal Green, and I believe it was Testors Aluminum as a basecoat, then translucent "Candy Green" or "Emerald Candy Green" as the top layer. But I'm not convinced it will work as well here because this seems like a little different green that was a short-lived thing in the late 1940s. Some areas of the bike look to have the aluminum base coat, then a layer of green over the top, though the green is something a little different that I have not had to match before.


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## GTs58 (Jul 29, 2021)

Schwinn's Opal colors went thru some product changes over the years, maybe three, and the early Opalescent colors were nothing like the mid 50's and later Opals. The early lightweight colors from what I have seen are not the same type of paint as the aluminum base and candy color coat versions. It was more of an early type of metallic paint with a heavier colorant and minute metallic particles. Unfortunately Schwinn did not paint the Steer tubes during the earlier years so getting an original color sample to have color matched is impossible. Here's some pictures from when I was color matching the Opals and Radiant paint used on the middleweights. This shade of green or paint is nothing like the earlier colors. What I would do is start searching for color matches that Dupli-Color makes in their Perfect Matched lacquer spray paint or get a paint scan off a good chain guard.


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 29, 2021)

Yeah, it's different from that. The green top coat is more opaque, and perhaps a bit less blue in it. I may try the scan and match method.


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## GTs58 (Jul 29, 2021)

I did a short search and really can't tell from pictures of can caps what would be close. Came across this color but it's a real metallic looking paint . 






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I'm deciding on a Dupli Color paint to use for my Squier refin. If y'all would be so kind as to post pics of your finished guitars so i can see the colors in context, it would be much appreciated. I'm thinking of going with one of their many metallic colors or perhapse the avocado green...




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## SirMike1983 (Jul 30, 2021)

Nice j-bass. The green isn't bad, but probably too metallic. I'm going to try getting a couple more pictures this weekend. There is a little paint and primer on the steerer tube, so I'll get a picture of that, and then a couple of the project. It's totally taken apart now. I did the oxalic acid bath on the fork, fenders, and chain guard. I was going to do the frame too, but might going instead just manually cleaning. It's not a heavily metallic paint. It just has a hint of metallic in it. It reminds me of paris green paint that used to be on the walls in a couple rooms of my parents' house.


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 1, 2021)

I had luck manually mixing paint with an eye dropper until I got something that worked. I patched up the frame and fork earlier today. The mix was Testor's Flat Beret Green as a base, add-in Testors Teal, add-in Testor's Aluminum. Start with the green, then eyedropper the other two incrementally until it matches. I'll have to adjust the mix as I go. The tint on the fenders and chainguard is a little more worn than the frame and fork. But with some patience, it will get there.


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 1, 2021)

On a separate subject, John Deere Ultraguard in a ziplock bag softened up the grips nicely. They were the typically petrified oval types initially. I put them in a ziplock bag with some Ultraguard for a few days, and it softened them up nicely. On the minus side, one of the grips has a few cracks in it. We'll see if I can re-use them. They're kind of marginal, at least one of them is.


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## GTs58 (Aug 1, 2021)

You're using the Testors bottled paint right?


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 1, 2021)

Yeah, this is the small bottles of paint. A little bottle of each will be enough. If one had to spray it, it could be thinned and put through an airbrush or maybe a Preval unit. But I'm not into that category with this one.


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## Jeff54 (Aug 2, 2021)

SirMike1983 said:


> I'm working on a post-war Superior, probably from 1948 or 49. It has a two-stage green paint that's apparently different from the later, Opal Green. Does anyone know what the name of this other green would be? Any suggestions on a matching touch-up paint?  It's a medium green with a little less blue in it and a little less metallic look than Opal Green.
> 
> This bike is the same green. I have the exact same model and color as this one. Mine is in roughly the same condition, maybe a touch rougher than the one below, but same color.
> 
> ...



Yeah, Schwinn called this an Opalescent green but it's actually a single coat that was/is a  solid to Simi-solid base with a bit of juicey  luster for the very fine metallic that's in it. It's applied on the primer, no special under-coat needed.  My Dad had a 5 gal bucket of some and it was an epoxy based with a hardener, I expect for repainting autos.

You can also find this type of paint on old, 40-50's Machinery; Laths, Mill,  other workshop and factory machinery. It was used on new cars, prob. baked on enamels and and epoxy for  repainted autos too. Albeit, there's so many whack names, it's tough to say which is what.

Old stuff, but, It's probably buried in auto color samples from 40-50's.


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 2, 2021)

Yeah, it's a different enough from the 1950s-era green that it would throw off trying to match it. For years, I have been dependent on Testor's enamels as touch-up paint. My collection is not especially high-value. It's mostly old 3-speed and utility bikes. I don't have any qualms about carefully and tastefully touching-up lost areas of paint, provided you can match it well. Testor's is relatively cheap, comes in small bottles that usually are enough to do simple repairs, and they are designed to be mixed with each other because that is something scale modelers do with the paints. Rustoleum, if I recall, bought them out a couple of years ago, and we've seen some of the colors previously available disappear. The big advantage of Testor's is it's very, very easy to work with. It can be cut using basic paint thinner, cleans off your hands with baby oil, and it dries fast enough but not so fast that it's unworkable. It can also be sprayed using an airbrush or Preval unit, or you can buy it in the pre-made spray cans. But where it seems to really shine is in the little glass bottles for small repairs. I hope Rustoleum doesn't gut the Testor's offerings, or just as bad, convert them all to water-based gunk.

My wife is a fan of using nail varnish. It's usually acetone-based or similar. It's actually pretty similar to car touch-up bottles. It dries quite fast and tends to be quite thick. She used nail varnish on her modern, mint-green colored road bike. It's definitely a second choice because it usually dries fast. Some of the varnishes can be thinned or cut using acetone, but you certainly want to avoid spilling the acetone on your existing finish. Some varnishes will mix and others seem to just congeal when you try to mix them. She basically goes to the beauty store, and pulls the bottle closest to what she needs to match her paint. I can see using the varnish if you don't need to mix, but it's definitely a lesser choice if you're messing around with color-matching.

I've had some luck taking the part to the paint shop to have paint made. I did that with a blue and cream colored Columbia, and did it with Raleigh Superbe Green (the one that looks like British Racing Green). It works, but they want to sell a quart of paint at minimum usually. A good quality, oil-based paint can be thinned and sprayed, mixed, etc. But you'll end up with a lot of left over paint unless you're doing a whole paint job.


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 7, 2021)

My Superior has a "T" series serial number, which I believe is for the Tandem. It has the unusual arrangement of an electroforged frame but brazed and seamless bottom bracket for the cottered cranks. Something a little different... I've acquired a stainless S6 wheelset with January 1949 3-speed. I know I need to get some pictures. Maybe tomorrow.


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## GTs58 (Aug 7, 2021)

Is your serial # higher than these or in this range? Last numbers listed for the Tandems. 

07/24/1950 ------------------ T002663 ----- T003035 -(TDM)


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## SirMike1983 (Aug 8, 2021)

Lower it seems: T002261. My guess was 1949, but perhaps that is close enough to still be in 1950.










It has registration stickers from Oakland, CA dating back to the late 1950s-early 1960s. The silver sticker on the seat tube is 1961. I'll probably just leave them as part of the bike's history and clean up around them.

Bottom bracket - cottered cranks on electro-forged frame.





The paint is cleaning up nicely, though the transfers on the frame are pretty worn in some areas. The green is really a neat color paired with the white. It has an English-style arrangement on the rear fender.


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 1, 2021)




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