[Boatanchors] Touch Up Paint for Hammarlund HQ-170A

[Glen Zook]

Make sure and prime the metal before painting, the latex will adhere much better.  Heath did not prime the cabinets before painting and that can cause some real problems with peeling if you just "touch up" the original paint job.

As for the airbrush:  You will probably have to thin the paint a WHOLE lot to get it to spray properly.  Unfortunately, if you thin latex too much the finish can get really "spotty".

I get my paint computer matched at Sherwin-Williams and, so far, they have been "right on" as to the color.  A quart of acrylic paint (thins with water but MUCH harder than enamel when it dries/hardens) costs about $13 for a quart.

The formulas for the colors that I have had matched can be found at

http://k9sth.com/uploads/Boat_Anchor_Paint_article.pdf

This includes the "Apache green" which the HP-23 cover was painted.

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Sun, 12/27/09, Walt - WB2VSJ <wb2vsj at earthlink.net> wrote:

I will be performing an experiment - Home Depot has 8 oz "Sample" jars of paint (about $3) they can make up for you. They are made by Behr (Behr Premium Plus Ultra Interior/exterior)  I had one "paint matched" in Heathkit Green for my HP-23 power supply. Yes, it is a latex, but I'm not too concerned about enamels right now. I have a neighbor friend who runs a body shop who could do it right for me if I got him the correct paint, but I think he'd rather paint a Lexus than a Heathkit! 
 
If this stuff is sturdy as Behr says it is, it may be the right choice for me.
 
Fortunately for me, the head paint guy at Home Depot had heard about Heathkit and had a buddy whose dad was a ham, so he understood at least what I was trying to do. He was able to match the color pretty well, but I'm stripping down the cover and bottom chassis plate to bare metal and I'll see how well it matches the chassis.

Once I figure out how to get it to run thru my daughters airbrush, I'll let you know how it went.  I may have to overcoat it with a clear coat as this power supply has a slight sheen to it.
 
Just FYI - if that Hammarlund has a shiny finish to it, the paint scanner may have a tough time with it.  The guy at Lowes tried but said it wouldn't come out right.  The guy at Home depot had better luck.  Go figure.