what year did harley go to urethane paints ? and what's their old candy like ?

[rigidude]

Were the 60's paint schemes acrylic lacquer or enamel ?...I'm now getting into spraying candies and figure that enamel is too much pain in the ass to spray compared to lacquers.
I saw a jar of original " hd hi-fi candy " online somewhere and it looks sorta opaque ( almost like a pearl) maybe that's what it is (a thin mix pearl as a candy). And I'm guessing their bases were fine silver metallic as opposed to the coarse stuff I've been spraying and luvin so much...dam this SEM stuff is perty over a bright coarse silver.....anyway, it's all good, I'm not too picky about having original paint...I just wanted to clear my conscience on it.

I got a pic here somewhere of the original........

[rigidude]

well, here's the pic that I had...says - baking enamel...so , I guess that answers that, unless you wanna call any coating an enamel.

[rigidude]

this pic from 1972 accessory catalog

Lacquer and enamel being sold over the shelf at HD...I suppose the choice is for complete redo of paint since lac would destroy your enamel if you were touching it up that way.

[flat-happy]

the only thing i can tell you about paint is try to get info from this guy----he doesn't let go of much info because he has spent years compiling what he knows and this is how he makes a living. he does sell any type of paint whether single stage or base-clear in any original color and they are always a perfect match. good luck. he's not a jerk or anything just protective of his work. hope this helps a little---stillman small

http://www.freewebs.com/colorwrite/main.html

[rigidude]

the only thing i can tell you about paint is try to get info from this guy----he doesn't let go of much info because he has spent years compiling what he knows and this is how he makes a living. he does sell any type of paint whether single stage or base-clear in any original color and they are always a perfect match. good luck. he's not a jerk or anything just protective of his work. hope this helps a little---stillman small

http://www.freewebs.com/colorwrite/main.html

I did know about them. I think I've downloaded every page and pic from that site for the past couple years ! Great source there.
I just add a few info tidbits here now and then , in regards to stock paint.

thanks for the tip

[bmh]

The base coat for the HI-FI colors is a very fine silver metallic. It was also used under the sparkling colors as well.

[Sportster Jerry]

i thought sparkling colors were just a regular metallic paint, not sprayed over a silver base like the hi fi colors?

[bmh]

I have a set of original paint Sparkling blue tanks and they have a fine metallic silver base with a candy on top. The difference is in the candy. The hi fi candies seemed to be quite susceptible to sun fade, maybe something to do with the pigments used or perhaps the lack of a clear coat. I remember Jon Kosmoski talking about that once. The Sparkling colors have a much more translucent quality to them and don't seem to fade out in the sun. They are impossible to touch up and had quite a reputation for repair parts never being able to be painted to match, most dealers advised repainting the whole machine if a fender or other sheet metal was being replaced. I had a long conversation with the folks at Antique Cycle Supply once and they claimed the original recipe for sparkling colors was sail cloth dye from AMF's sailboats added to clear enamel. Of course the chart you posted seems to poke a few holes in that theory as it lists sparkling colors in use 4 years before the AMF buyout.

[Neil74]

Why would it rule it out? Maybe Harley was in bed with them long before the buy out

[moon wolf]

i thought sparkling colors were just a regular metallic paint, not sprayed over a silver base like the hi fi colors?

Hmm, I have an original paint sparkling gold bike, and I do not think the color is sprayed over silver, just the normal red-brown oxide primer.

[bmh]

Don't think I've ever seen an original paint sparkling gold bike. Or sparkling copper for that matter. But the blue and red and green all appear to be candies. I know the blue is for sure. Gotta be some stone chips on your gold bike, what do you see?

[rigidude]

Hmm, I have an original paint sparkling gold bike, and I do not think the color is sprayed over silver, just the normal red-brown oxide primer.

Fortunately, you probably can't tell. But unfortunately for me, my sparkling gold tank is so pock marked and beyond saving the finish that I can see definitely, very thin trace of silver below the gold in some spots.
It's weird...where I can chip off flakes of gold, I see the red primer on the tank base but no silver under alot of the gold flakes. Well, it is 42 yr old paint!

I'm guessing that the "sparkling" paints were "mimic" type candies - metallics sprayed lightly over silver base...maybe like the HOK shimrin pearls I've seen people use for that effect.

And I guess (again heheh) that "true" candy is exactly a translucent tinted clear over whatever base you choose...as opposed to calling them candy simply because somebody went thru the sames steps involved..bleh, wtf knows........here's my 68 turdle -

[comptime]

I am trying to find info on 1976 black sequin silver liberty edition paint is this lacquer or enamel? HOW IS IT SPRAYED ON?where can I find some or is there someone who can spray my tanks for me? I have very little experince painting.

[dealinwhls]

it was called, by harley, aluminum undercoat for the hi-fi colors. i would not call it siver.