msl109

Sounds like you worked it out. Mine really only needs touch up in a few spots, so I think the eye will blend anything close.

Joedead

I went to an auto paint store, not able to scan the frame as quoted below however the store did have sample paint color wheel and we matched a touch up paint that is was incredibly close for both the blue and the silver. Each paint cost about $25 bucks if anyone is interested I can share pictures of the paint cans so you can see the formula they used. I had a lot of nicks / rust spots and the bike looks oh so much better after I touched it up! Thanks all for the post and the idea to go to an auto paint store. Cheers, Joe

merziac

Au contraire,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mink

Open the color chart about 3/4 of the way down the page,

Royal pastel = bluish cast

Silverblu = silvery blue tone

Breath of spring = brighter bluish cast

Blufrost = pale brown with darker and white

Cerulean = sapphire, bluish grey

Steel Blue = dull battleship grey with lighter shaded

merziac

Au Contraire

See post above.

msl109

I stand corrected!

msl109

Sure - would like to see the formula. Actually going to have some body work done on my car in a few days and the guy I'm using might do me a favor ...

merziac

Well, that's the American version so really no telling what the true rationale was.

Would be interesting to know if it was aimed at the US market or what.

Obviously all those colors are some combination of bluish, grey, silver and white so it could be the combination of them.

They pretty much covered all the bases with Mink Blue/silver, way open to interpretation.

I have always been a big fan of that scheme and also have one that needs some serious touchup/ding repair on the ST, blue, silver and gold.

Joedead

Hi, I can’t upload photos as a new member, send me an email address and I will send you photos of the paint can for the blue.

Joedead

If anyone wants details on the paint, just email at joedead@aol.com for that matter I have 8 oz of paint and would be willing to send an oz your way, I will never use it all to touch up one bike. Cheers, Joe

Joedead

Mike, got your private response however as a newbie I am unable to reply. Please email directly to joedead@aol.com with contact info and will send you a half ounce of paint.

msl109

Hey Joe - had emailed you my info - did you get it?

keithdunlop

This. I took the fork from my Bottecchia to a paint jobber and they created a custom mix to match the paint right down to the 40-year-old oxidation. If you can't find a paint jobber, ask your local auto body shop where they get their paints from.

Ronbo Fomby

Hi Guys
This thread caught my eye and I will share my method for touchups.
I use a microscope slide against the finish be matched and mix the touchup on it.
When you have the correct match, do the least conspicuous spots first.
Ron

jleeg

You’re making me cry. I had a Raleigh Pro. So gorgeous. Sigh. $800 new, with Campy Nuovo Record (still riding the components, frame was a tad large so sold it).

systemBuilder

RALEIGH PRO STEEL BLUE 1977-1980

Here is a paint code. I have a NOS Raleigh Pro MARK V fork (the fork blades are 28x19 imperial oval so they are flatter than just about any other part of the bike). I took the fork to sherwin williams but the paint matcher needed a larger patch. So I went through MANY keychains full of paint swathes looking for a visual match, and I finally found the closest color chip which they then put into their paint matcher and that produced the formula below. I did it at Sherwin Williams in the Bay Area in 2023 so the formula should be good for the entire USA.

The late 1970's bikes appear to be a little more "gun-metal" looking (maybe from a 1979 or 1980 bike), a tad darker and more metallic blue than the early 1970s bikes. Also know that these are CAR colors so the sparkle size is usually a little larger than what is typically used on a bicycle - YMMV, but I will use it to repaint my bike(s). I googled "Bleu Lucia Metallic" and it appears to be a Citroen Car Color - a link to an EBay touchup auction is at the bottom of this message. NOTE that paint changes color over the years so this will not be an exact match, even though I used a NOS fork stored in a box for 40 years, your frame has probably seen UV rays and has changed colors more quickly than my fork!

Here is the formula written on the paint can.

SHERWIN WILLIAMS
135-100533155-A 11/24/2020
135 ATX 3.5 VOC Basecoat, 16.14 Oz

Bleu Lucia Metallic

1112006 Silver A 19.7g
1214423 Micro Wh 12.0g
1214470 Green PE 9.2g
1599144 ATX(tm) T1F 8.7g
1010057 Stable B 6.7g
1010014 Mixing B 1.3g
1010095 Magenta 0.7g
1190135 ATX(tm) 3.5 183.0g
1500137 ATX(tm) LOW 275.4g

VOC LE(g/l): 403VOC AP (g/l): 97
Mixed By: Sherwin9806 (9806 i think is the store number)
Batch Number: 31376436
Mixed: 23-Mar-2023 3:51 PM
ID 100533155v5

Citroen C3 Bleu Lucia Metallic Car Color (2003-2010)
https://farbaua.com/lakokrasochnye-m...prl-bleu-lucia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%...-01-04)_01.jpg

Touchup Paint from EBay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30231061998...Bk9SR9rTtZOQYw

Kabuki12

your bike , like my ‘78 , is described as Steel Blue , not Mink Blue . The MK V was a bit different , although I can’t see the difference.

Andy Antipas 

About a month ago, I bought a really tired and scratched up 1973 Raleigh Pro frameset. I mixed Testors silver metallic (#1146) and GI Blue (#1110). It was a challenging touch-up project and it isn't perfect, but it is acceptable to me. I also acknowledge that Testors paint is likely not going to be very durable. More pics of this project on my Flickr pages. I haven't had a chance to ride the bike with winter in full swing here in Durango.





1973 Raleigh Pro

cegerer

FYI: color scanning apps are available such as 'Color Detector.' You simply scan with your phone and it tells you the various color codes such as RGB, ffff, etc. These codes are used to mix the paint. Have not used it for a bike but I have had success with other things using the app. Of course, it won't do anything regarding the metallic. That seems to be a difficult issue in matching vintage cars and bikes because of varying particle size and type.

Mad Honk 

I repainted a top tube for Kurt last year, and it took close to six weeks of going back and forth to the paint shop to remix a pint of matching color to get close. When I finished I put away my painting equipment and have only done complete recoats with professional powder coat. The Mink blue is a real pita to match in my mind. Just my experience. Smiles, MH

Kabuki12

Fortunately my Steel Blue Professional (1978 color) is beyond touch up and has reached “patina stage”. It will be a complete repaint or leave as is , no touch up. I can enjoy the bike either way.

looks ok from a distance!

systemBuilder

I decided to test your hypothesis that the Steel Blue color is different than the Mink Blue color, as I recently acquired an all-original 1974 Raleigh Pro with paint in pretty good condition. Here are the forks (& chain stays of the 1974 bike, too.) vs. a 1978 Mark V fork (not completely NOS but excellent condition).

In the sunlight, I really cannot tell much difference between the 1974 Mark IV (mink blue) and the 1978 Mark V (steel blue) paint. In the 6-tubes picture the lower 1974 Chain stay may look a little bit lighter but that's only because a much larger and flatter surface area is facing the sun. Near the chain stay bridge the 2 chain stays exhibit a range of colors! In the next picture of 2-forks the 1974 paint actually looks a bit darker to me. Maybe the 1974 paint has slightly larger speckles & more mottling, that's about it.

For a repaint, the match is very very good. For touchup paint, I can try some steel-blue paint on the top tube of my mink-blue bike and see how it looks ... I am going to be repainting the top-tube and probably touching up the rest of the tubes (on both bikes) and for this purpose, the Citroen C3 Lucia Bleu color (see my Sherwin Williams formula above) should work just fine. In most cases there will be gold lug-lining or at least a lug shoreline to obscure the color transition change between the top-tube and the seat lug / head lug at each end of the tube, making the color change nearly imperceptible.

Kabuki12

Boy , that is close. You will know when you attempt the touch up. I don't know why they called it Steel Blue in the '78 catalogue because it looks the same to me. Joe

systemBuilder

They probably changed paint suppliers and the old supplier probably owned the paint formula or it was based the old supplier's pigments (which may differ from the new supplier's pigments). Anyway, they couldn't claim it was exactly the same color, but they probably did their OWN paint match to get as close as possible to the old color, and changed the name in the catalog to protect themselves (after all - every paint changes color in a unique way every year as it ages and customers would want to buy the correct formula of touchup paint for retouching their bikes in future years.)