Re: Futura Color

According to Ford Motor Company Archives, the original color of the Lincoln Futura was an extremely light blue (almost white) with what perhaps was one of the very first pearlescent clear coats laid on over the top of the color. One of my first projects when I joined Johnny Lightning, was to get the Futura into a 1:64 scale casting, and find the correct color of the car.

We came up with an "Ice Blue Pearl", which is a very, very light (almost white) with pearl overcoat, submitted that to Ford for approval, and it was approved, as being the correct color.

The big problem seems to be that the only color photo's extant today suffered from the severe yellowing discoloration over time, which must have happened pretty early in the history of the car, as Revell's box art shows the same odd shade of pearl green, but when one really looks at the pictures, one sees strong evidence of yellow discoloration throughout the pictures.

I vote for Ice Blue Pearl.

Art

I would suggest getting some gloss white, and some gloss blue. Add just a touch of the blue (the darkest blue you can get) to the white, because it is so light as to be almost an off-white.

Art

That's from the Boyd's custom line; might look quite nice. Cheers,

The Keeper (of too much crap)

It would be curious to find our how thoroughly Ford people checked your color, and what they used for reference ... I can just hear them say - it is just a little model of a 50 year old non-existing car.... Looks close enough ...

I've read a good article in Collectible Automobile Magazine which talked about the paint. They said that it was actully made from ground up sea shells and it was opalescent (changed color depending on the viewing angle). It didn't photograph well - cannot convey the effect in a still photo.

There were some color pictures - the car looked white.

I trust CA Mag. for great reference material.

I was experimenting with some Nail Polish, and I came up with a nice color. I used pearl white base and found a flip-flop color which I applied over that. Then clear. If you look at it straight on - it looks white. Then from different angles it has a blue-green or violet highlights. I think I'll use that paint if I ever build my model.

I don't recall the names of those nail polishes - I can look them up if you are interested.

This is all based on my speculation from the photos and articles I read.

Peteski

I've never seen a Testors color that was even close! Way too dark

Art

Actually,

Ford Motor Company has perhaps the most complete, best organized and operated archives of any US Automaker. Also, as I was working with their licensing agency, I was dealing with is staffed with some very big names in the scale modeling field, and they do do their homework, believe me!

Art

Nail Polish is usually a Acrylic Lacquer. Similar to Automotive Lacquers. I thin them using standard Lacquer Thinner. Lots of really good colors are available too ! And one or two bottles should be plenty for a model. Since they are similar to Automotive paints - make sure to use proper primer undercoat (or they will melt plastic).

I've seen several articles in modeling magazines about using Nail Polish to paint model cars.

I think the color I used is South Sea Pearl. See

Try it either over a perl white or just directly over a white primer. Clear coat it and see which you like the best.

Be careful if using Nail Polish over Testors - might be incompatible.

Before I paint my models I do a test sample on a piece of a 2 or 3 inch PVC pipe. That gives me a nice curved surface to see how the color will come out.

(it is so nice to actually discuss On-Topic issues on r.m.s !! I'm so sick of all the off-topic crap around here !! If people could only just say: no-I won't reply to this troll or spammer - things would be so much nicer around here !)

Peteski

Download AlbumFamiy software at

to help you

DC asked:

them on pieces of the sprues?

They might eat the plastic of the sprues since they're a lacquer. If you have a piece that's dispensable, go ahead and try it. Oh yeah, best try them over the primer you're using. That would both save the plastic and give you a better idea of the final colour.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

That is nice to know !

Now, if they had the real paint chip and allowed it to be viewed - that would be awesome. I would really see the effect of the opalescent additive to see how it reflected the light. Beacuse from all the descriptions I've read - it sounds like there is more to it than just light-blue with a plain pearl coat.

Since you work(ed) for Johnny Lightning, I would like to ask you some questions. Their 1:64 die-cast cars are nice but sometimes their proportions are little off. Is that because they are made in CHina where the designers just work from blueprints instead of being familliar with the "real" cars ?

Also, the bodies are molded way too thick for my taste. Why can't someone make nice thinly molded die-cast cars anymore ? like 60's and 70's Matchbox cars. They were really nice.

Surprisingly, the current Matchbox sized Maisto cars are molded quite nicely and proportioned correctly (even though they sell 3/$1.00 at Wally-Mart...

Sorry for going off topic.

Thanks for your input ! Peteski

Yes, I keep learning new things all the time ! That is a good thing ! ;-)

I also recently started using Future (although I'm still not all that convinced that it is as great as everybody claims it is). I used it to make some windshields clearer and shinier after it was polished. But I'm still not ready to use it as a clear coat on my car models. I'm not sure if it is durable enough. And I sometimes wash my models and I'm not sure if Future will withstand my washing.

If you never painted your car models with automotive lacqyers or enamels, you will have to lear another technique.

Basically, most store-bought automotive primers sprayed gingerly will not melt your pastic body. After the body is primed, you can use Auto Paints or Nail Polishes. It is also possible that Testors or Floquil primers will do the job of protecting the plastic body from lacquers.

Spraying a flat piece of styrene is fine for testing weather the paint will or will not melt plastic is fine. It will also show the color.

I prefer the PVC pipe because of it's shape (especially with metallic or flip-flop colors). The roundness of it makes the paint show its properties. Just like curves on a car body. That is the only reason for me test spraying onto a round object.

You are right - there are hundreds of Nail Polish shades. Some are unusable, some are wild and some are quite nice and not so loud car colors.

I probably have close to a 100 bottles (that is what happens when I follow my woman to the drug store) ! She has fun picking colors for me and vice versa ! Life is good !

If you are man enough - you can also browse alone - might get some strange looks - but what the heck ! ;-)

Peteski

The old formula Floquil would probably be okay but lacquers should *never* be sprayed over enamels.

Good to know ! And you are probably giving some good ammunition to many trolls lurking on this newsgroup ... Ah, what the heck...

:-) Peteski