help on early arrow paint colours

[ian.dabney]

I have acquired a box of arrow/leader bits (70 % there) and am looking to pull together an arrow. Looking at the Draganfly site, I see the base colours are admilarity grey or ivory; however the arrows of the owners site picture gallery look are rather nice light blue base colour. Advice appreciated or do I need a new pair of glasses,
many thanks
Ian

[Roger James]

Hello Ian,
In recent years I tried to establish a definate colour code for Light Admiralty Grey through liaising with owners of Arrows that had been repainted, the results were inconclusive as the majority had found a good section of original surviving paintwork on a body panel and had it matched and mixed by a paint supplier but not recorded any mixing details.

Now I've been buying Leader/Arrow spares for decades that have fortunately included quite a few new body panels painted in Light Admiralty Grey and putting the surviving panels together found that the Light admiralty Grey varied quite a bit between some of the panels, even allowing for deterioration in the colour depending on how the panels had been stored, some still wrapped others might have been exposed to sunlight etc I came to the conclusion that even the paint applied by the factory varied in shading.

Here are two photos to start with. One showing the rear tail section of a scruffy Sports Arrow that I dismantled for a friend a few weeks ago, after removing the rear number plate panel it revealed some really nice paintwork of the type some owners would use to have a colour mixed up.
The other picture is of the collection of new old stock panels that hopefully give you some idea of the variations of Light Admiralty Grey.
More to follow.

Jess

[Roger James]

Hello Ian,

Further to previous message.
It depends what you want to achieve with the restoration of your Arrow if you are going to paint it Light Admiralty Grey, if you can find a good clean patch of original paintwork and have it mixed by a paint supplier then you are likely to be happy with it even if someone in the future after looking at your bike is likely to say something like, 'Thats not the right colour' unfortuately it happens all the time.
If however you just want to achieve a clean tidy paint job then I would recommend you go for a paint that is still current that I believe is as close to Light Admiralty Grey you could want, it was used on Triumph Herald cars back in the late 50's and early 60's, they even did them in two tone colour scheme similar to that used by Ariel, namely Seal Grey and Light Admiralty Grey if you can find some colour photographs of Triumph Heralds you'll see what I mean, I've often wondered whether Triumph were inspired by Ariel's colour scheme for the early Leaders or whether it was the other way around. Back in the 70's when I first started to use there version of Light Admiralty grey that was still available in spray cans it was called Triumph Ice Blue, its no longer available on the shelf in spray can form so I have mine mixed up into spray cans by my local paint supplier if doing the work spray painting myself (quite expensive cans but still goes a long way repainting Arrow panels) or have it mixed up for a friend or professional spray painter to use with proper spray equipment..
Its no longer referred to as Triumph Ice Blue but Rover Ice Blue Manufacturers code 116.

Here are a couple of photos of a Sports Arrow I had resprayed by someone 3 years ago using Rover Ice Blue 116.
first picture shows the panels layed out after I got them back. (the dummy tank and number plate I have powder coated by Redditch Shotblasters, I dont know what code or mix of paint they use but it receives favourable comments by people who owned Sports Arrows in the 60's).
Second picture shows the Arrow after it had been rebuilt.

More to follow.
Jess

[Roger James]

Hello again Ian,

Again depending on what you want to achieve I wouldnt bother looking for a different shade and use the Rover Ice Blue unless you want to something achieve a restoration absolutely spot on in Light Admiralty Grey but where you get it from I'm still not sure, you could try RS Paints who advertise or you'll find them on-line, they supply paint in various colours for the Leader/Arrow but I've not used them myself.

I've got two projects on the go this winter, one is a Leader special and the other is a early standard Arrow being painted in Sports Arrow colours but I'm taking the economical route and spraying them both using spray cans purchased off the shelf from a small local motorcycle shop who amazingly sell large CarPlan spray cans for just £4 per can in a huge variety of colours, you wont get a large spray can of paint from Halfords for that price.

But CarPlan dont do Rover Ice blue so I'm using Ford Bermuda Blue - its a cleaner stronger blue than Light Admiralty Grey, wont please the purist but I'm not bothered I just want a clean and tidy bike to ride and using these spray cans it will be an inexpensive paint job as you dont need that many cans for painting the Arrow. (again I've had the dummy tank and rear number plate painted by Redditch Shotblasting).
I mentioned Halfords, they do sell spray cans in Ford Bermuda Blue but smaller content and a lot more expensive.

You might well want to stick with Light Admiralty grey that I understand but just thought I would mention what I'm using as an alternative as it will show up in photographs as being a different Blue colour.

First picture shows the two projects in the shed at the start of painting in Ford Bermuda Blue.
Second picture shows the painted body panels in temporary storage in the spare bedroom as at present time while I finish off the rest of the panels, hope to have the rest painted up this week, I've carried on working on them over Christmas so I can start assembling the Arrow soon.

Note the differences in shade captured by the camera, the one taken in the bedroom looks a richer blue and the Gold definately looks darker than it really is, one of the problems I suppose of flash photograph in doors rather than in natural light.

Thats it Ian, hope you find it of interest if not totally totally useful.

Jess

[ian.dabney]

Roger,
Many thanks for your advice and experience - bikes look great
Ian