Touch Up Advice and Merckx Paint Codes

[Tonger]

A few months ago I bought this old Lotto-Merckx knowing full well that it looked like it had been dragged behind a gravel truck. The good thing is that it's mostly primer showing and has little rust. At the time I was thinking that I would just have it refinished but it looks like the paint scheme is complex enough that it's looking like a kilobuck or so to get it done which greatly exceeds the cost of the frame itself. The best quote I got was from Alan Wanta which was much less, but I'm not sure I want to give up on the original 'stick on' decals.

After getting the stuck quill stem melted out by the good folks at Yellowjersey.org, I am looking forward to building it but would like to address some of the cosmetics first...

Has anyone tried to use an airbrush to blend in new sections of paint? Years ago I painted a car - it took all summer but turned out ok. I think I could do the "brush on touch up" to some degree but that would leave me with a 10 ft result. I don't know if the Lanka or DR Colorchip products would help it look much better.

Also, I spent time at the auto body paint store looking at the color book. The best 2011 match I can find for the white pearl was a Hyundai Ivory Pearl (code AJ) which is just slightly too yellow. Unfortunately the other choice Hyundai White Pearl (code SWP) is a touch too white. A blend might work though.

The best match I could find for the blue (looks like Motorola Blue to me) is the BMW/Mini Laser Blue Effect (code A59) which is lacking just a little bit of yellow.

I imagine that there must have been an original vintage paint code for both of these common colors - does anyone know or have access to them?

Good or bad, I would appreciate any guidance from others who might have gone down this path.

Thanks so much!

[buldogge]

The paint store should be able to scan the blue, at least, on the flat part of the fork blade...the white might be difficult.

Any decent paint shop (with a painter on staff, especially) should be able to hand mix a close match, as well.

I did a blending touch-up spray job on my Spectrum, and while it's not perfect it looks a lot better than the chipped up version.

-Mark in St. Louis

[christian]

Old Merckx paints don't match up to any of the books, so you'll have to get it scanned and mixed. It's a little pricy, but the results can be good.

[bambam]

I got a similar bike as well last year. It was in worse shape than yours.
I just used nail polish. It doesn't look good but I hope it would stop rust from forming. I like the looks of unblemished paint but chips happen and since that is a former race bike I think it sort of adds character to the bike. I was amazed how weel it brightend up just with cleaning and waxing the frame.
But thats just my opinion. Good luck with the restoration.
BamBam

[pablo pinchasso]

Paint touch up and repair on Merckx

[Tonger]

Thanks to all that have offered guidance - it sounds like having the paint mixed is going to be the way to go. The minimum amount of paint that they'll mix is half a pint and getting the blue and white when combined with the pearl and reducer gets beyond a couple hundred bucks in a hurry.

On the other hand, it's hard to argue against PP's results - wow!

A couple of quick questions for PP-

1. The first step is to fill the hole with a brush, do you do this with metallics too or are all the layers airbrushed?

2. What would you do with an area the size of a quarter or so? Do you try to sand it down and then spray or just fill with the brush and then spray? I ask this because the area behind the downtube is pretty beat up. There's a long series of chips along the right chainstay, would you fill these individually or sand the whole thing down, prime it, and paint the whole area?

3. Do you shoot a layer of clearcoat over the finished product? I'm not sure if my bike was clearcoated from the factory.

Thanks again!

[pablo pinchasso]

I fill all chips with a brush....m.

[AngryScientist]

another option, which will yield decent results is to just get what's available at the auto parts store inexpensively.

i start with spot putty for chipped paint:

http://appliedcolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_0372-e1315459706171.jpg

then, any auto parts store will have a wall of touch up paints, just pick the closest color, and grab a bottle of clear coat. each little bottle comes with a brush in the handle...

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40249&stc=1&d=1320707900

fill the chips with the spot putty, let dry, sand lightly to even out, and coat with touch-up paint, followed by clear.

this will get you close, depending on how well the available paints match, but of course, its way cheaper.

[pablo pinchasso]

existing