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Resurrecting Campus Green Paint thread

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Good CAMPUS GREEN picture & excellent information and just a superb example of the finest Do It Yourself workmanship possible!!!
Prob sounding like a butthead but, it's a quest, a riddle that remains unsolved. Personally, I think, besides getting a correct translucent color, the issue is and always was the home-made version of baking the paint on; 360 degrees. First ya got the Phosphate dip. )frequently misunderstood as dipped primer) and it's baked? Next is the red or reddish brown primer that's baked on, Aluminum is baked and finally the color coat baking too. Layer after layer baked flat and very thin.. The finish mostly ends up as thin or less than your typical primered and single color coating that's not baked.

You end up with a serious problem when the paint builds up so thick; it chips just looking at it. Even back in the day, using Schwinn's own paint, despite all their claims, just primer and a single coat, it chipped the same as the cheap stuff.

That is going to be a major problem in the thread you are referring too, it's way too thick. Anybody got a Pizza oven? How about a double oven? Or, potentially, taking cheapest way for solar heating water: Build a box about 6" deep, paint it black inside and cover with Plexiglas; Let the sun shine! and IDK but cook it for a week or so. . I mean, might be a way to get this paint to lay down. Alternatively, just what they did: Cook each layer, one at a time {If it works} in your new Solar baking box. .
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I finally got the frame painted in Campus Green. I was concerned about a half pint from Koolest Kolors not being enough. It was. There is enough paint left over to paint fenders, if I ever need to. One good thing about getting it from Koolest Kolors is that it is the right color. No guessing.

I thinned it with a reducer and clear coated over it.

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The 1972 and 1973 Chevrolet CORVETTE had a beautiful green color called ELKHART GREEN poly.
It was 1972 and 1973 only and only seen on the Corvette.





 
Here is the Continental painted and decaled, out in the sun. I still have plenty of work ahead to finish the bike, however, this is about paint. I had some mis-steps, however now that the paint is finally finished, I have to say that the color looks right. Well, of course it should, it came from Koolest Kolors that knows the formula and charges for that exclusive knowledge.

Is there an alternative to spending about 6 or more times as much money as either a Duplicolor paint or being able to custom mix the color at an automotive paint supplier? At this point, I don't know.

There are many car colors that have been listed above that when the bike is finished I would like to compare to my bike. If I find something that is really close, I will post it. I will have to bring my bike to a few car shows to check out some of these colors. I am working, thank goodness for that, so it will take some time.

If anybody else finds anything that works and is less expensive, please post.

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Great looking Continental! You did a good job. Looks like it will be comfortable with those bars. Color looks good and it is close to finished.
Not every bike gets that far
 
I don't remember if a 2016 - 2018 HONDA HR-V factory paint color called "MISTY GREEN PEARL" had been previously mentioned earlier in this thread, but it deserves a look because it is an oustanding green that might be an acceptable alternative for someone that is seeking something somewhat in the ballpark of the range of Campus Green.

 
Yeah, I see where you're going with that, it's close but a bit dark. And in most photos quite a bit darker. Yet it's got a very close color, tone or shade within it. Just water it down, or that is, lighten up up just a tad, with what I got no clue. This photo, like many advertised by manufactures or promotions is enhanced or shot with golden highlighting from sun or filters that brightens it up. . I always get a sense that, Schwinn's radiant campus green is a dark forest green with a pinch of mustard.

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The human eye can detect about a million different colors, so getting an 'exact' color match is not really possible. We're making a huge leap just to claim that there is a single shade that Schwinn called Campus Green, and that every bike that rolled out of the factory with that moniker was that exact shade. Mix in the fact that you are applying paints made with different chemistry, applied using different methods and in different environments and you simply cannot duplicate the original; most likely your job will be better. At some point you have to make a determination that the match is "good enough," as there is really no other possibility. As with so many other things that we fret and stew about on these old bikes, no one else even cares. We've heard the phrase "It's only original once," but is that even accurate when you can pull off the head badge and see a different color underneath? Is it accurate to still call that original paint bicycle "Campus Green"?

This thread got me thinking about Campus Green and Campus Green Flek, which I recall from trying to spiff up my 1969 Varsity, which was the first bike in my family anyone ever bought new. I, too, bought into the idea that the Schwinn spray paint at the dealer's would be superior, and rode the 10 miles out there to plunk down my dough. I distinctly recall that the can read Campus Green Flek, and I always thought this was Schwinn's color name until reading through this thread and checking the catalogs. Sure enough, Schwinn always refers to it as Campus Green whenever listing it as a model's color option, but the 1970 catalog has a photo of the retail spray can which reads Campus Green Flek. I don't really recall anything about the paint I actually sprayed back in 1970 or '71 when I was touching up my bike, other than that it didn't hide the chips very well at all, but I suspect that the spray can color was a metallic, mixed to look as close as practical to the original finish, without the complexity of applying a two-layer paint scheme. I have a mint '72 Paramount in its original Campus Green and it is easy to see that there is no metal flake in the factory finish.
 
Cool - very interesting. I've never seen that anywhere else. Thanks CyclingDay. That gives a little more perspective on redoing it from bare metal.
Do you think the modern-day equivalent of "baked on" is powder coat?
My opinion is that the old backed on is to dry the paint fast and was a thinner paint. Powder coat seems to be a type of melted plastic that is put on at a much higher temperature? This is a rough guess from watching parts being painted sixty years ago.
 
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