Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

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kehughes
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Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#1

Post by kehughes »

Does anyone have an accurate paint code for Civil Defense Gray Paint. This is the color I want to paint my '46 Knuckle. Or would anyone with an original can of this color paint be willing to send me a sample on a paper plate to get it color matched? A friend of mine did this for me with some old Skyway Blue and my paint shop was able to match it perfectly for my '47 WL. So if anyone needs that formula, I can hook you up.

Thanks for any help
1950Panhead
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#2

Post by 1950Panhead »

John Pierce sells accurate paint or color match this photo - http://hdpaint.tk/gallery/original_pain ... ove_grey13
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#3

Post by panhead »

kehughes
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#4

Post by kehughes »

Not sure about you guys, but $400 per quart is highway robbery to me. Just thought some of you may have already gone through this process of color matching for this grey or that maybe someone would have an old original paint can with this color. Maybe we could build a data base of color matched formulas of different paint colors. I'll try to post my Skyway Blue formula that matched the OEM paint perfectly.
kehughes
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#5

Post by kehughes »

Paint is Sherwin Williams 4th Dimension base coat:

Image
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#6

Post by kehughes »

This is the color on the bike

Image
kehughes
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#7

Post by kehughes »

And 1 more with more sunlight.

Image
panhead
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#8

Post by panhead »

Maybe we could build a data base of color matched formulas of different paint colors.
Good idea, I'll make an overview.
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#9

Post by Mountain Flathead 1 »

I painted my 46 Knuckle in grey, what I did was send off to some guy who had a stockpile the original paints from HD, he sent me a big dollop of the paint on a postcard. I took that to a paint store and had em run a color anaylizer on it and made me a quart for regular paint cost. Came out great too !
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kehughes
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#10

Post by kehughes »

Do you still have the information of the paint brand and mix codes?...like I posted of my Skyway Blue
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#11

Post by Mountain Flathead 1 »

kehughes wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:44 pm Do you still have the information of the paint brand and mix codes?...like I posted of my Skyway Blue
Sorry, no, all information, plus the can went to the new owner when I sold it.
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#12

Post by VPH-D »

I've often thought war era Gray was a US Navy color. So earlier this week I dug out my Navy and Air Force color guide books that have color chips of the various colors used from about 1940 thru 1990. My Gray paint sample matches none of the color chips in any of my 6 color guides. So much for that theory...
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#13

Post by RUBONE »

From info I've seen there were several shades of gray during the '40s. H-D Squadron Gray, Police Gray, US Navy gray, and then of course those such as Civil Defense which was generally painted over a civilian color locally.
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Re: Civil Defense Gray Paint for '46

#14

Post by RooDog »

Do understand that there are no standard formulas, especially after 70+ years. Each paint manufacturer has their own mixing bases and tinting colors, they are not interchangeably between makers.
The best thing to do now a days is to get a good, clean sample of the original color and have it scanned bu a local automotive paint supplier. They can conjure up a formula with today's materials to match the old time hues. Some body shop painters have a good eye and can manually makeup a matching color, but good luck finding that guy....
Color, truly, is in the eye of the beholder....
....RooDog....
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