Vintage instrument colour - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: nagz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 05:18:03 am
content: Hi folks,Got some stuff that needs a bit of painting and wanted to track down the name of the traditional vintage equipment colour as per my attached pic?Thanks in advance

author: inse
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 05:24:52 am
content: Appears like US Navy grey.There are also colour finder apps for the smartphone which may help you identify the colour code.Obtaining this specific paint in the desired “format“ is another issue.After decades the paint will have faded or discoloured and “almost matching“ colours meeting on a flat surface will always look 💩What about keeping the vintage look on vintage equipment and just carefully remove dirt and crust (or call it patina)?

author: nagz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 06:16:04 am
content: HeyThanks for your help mate, I’ll track down an appI’m not looking to re paint an older piece of kit. I’m starting some new projects

author: Terry Bites
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 02:13:49 pm
content: RAL 7002?BTW. I watched doumentary about "Pantone" colours after a boozy chat with a printer mate of mine.I had no idea!!What a fabulous monopoly the've got going- top dollar too.

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 04:55:06 pm
content: Great video, thanks! My other hobby is photography and I've just been on a long and never-ending journey of color management to get the monitor and printer correct. Seems trivial, but it's more like rocket science to do it right. When you see that guy in the video measuring color patches, he's using a spectrophotometer that covers most or all of the visual range. Expensive. I have one that's 20+ years old and it was still more than I would have liked to spend. It's easy to measure a painted surface and get color numbers, usually in the form of L*a*b*, but that can be converted to other things like RGB. Many big-box home stores that sell paint will have a similar machine and can read your sample and mix to match. They might be able to read the whole instrument if he brought it in. Then it's a matter of getting them to mix something suitable for a panel, not a wall. Another possibility is matching a Pantone color and having a rattle can or three made up by these people-https://www.myperfectcolor.com/Also, go here-https://www.pantone-colours.com/and look for Pantone 422 or similar.Assuming the photo is accurate (more or less) the color is an almost perfectly neutral grey. You could probably get there by adding black or grey to some white enamel until the shade was correct.

author: tatel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 08:00:31 pm
content: First time I learned about Pantone was in 1990; I was working on pre-printing for a daily newspaper. Some other newspaper had sell an entire page to Bank of Santander for advertisement... but the corporate red color they used did not correspond with the correct Pantone specified; so Bank of Santander, in the end, got that for free.So, 35 years after that, they are still squeezing blood from stones... I wonder what Wilbur Wrigth, who died while figthing against Glenn Curtis, who was obviously violating the Wright patent, would have to say.Even a patent becomes freely available after 20 years?

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 09:47:49 pm
content: Patents yes, but copyrights can go much longer.