SkyWatcher off white - colour match??

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

My ol' HEQ5 is beginning to show it's age and needs a touch up job....
Anyone established the best colour match for the SW "white"?????

[garymck (Gary)]

Easy enough to get a colour match done at a paint store. The only issue with some whites is that the match may require buying up to 4 litres - this is due to the need to apportion the tints in the right ratios. Usually though you can get away with buying a one litre. The automated matching systems can usually get pretty close, but if you can find an old hand who matches by eye you can get close to 100%. Be aware though that even the best match may look different under different lights - a phenomenon known as metamerism.

Best if you repaint the whole mount rather than patch touch up....

chers
Gary

[doppler (Rick)]

The cheapest way would be to go to an auto accessories store and see if you can find a match with a car touch up spay can, around $13. You should try and find out what sort of paint is used first, to avoid any incompatibilities, but you could test it on a counterweight to see how it goes.

[LewisM]

Gary is spot on, though I have found Bunnings will do a sample pot in acrylic or enamel - I had a sample pot of Tak Green PRECISELY matched in enamel, and it cost me $10.

Then you need to spray it - a brush vs spry (factory) sticks out like danglies on a dog. DO NOT HAND PAINT! I have air brushes and sprayers, so that is easy for me, but if you don't, it would be best to invest in a DIY spray top (available at Supercheap auto for about $20 - fill the glass reservoir, attach the compressed can spray unit on top, spray).

Or, if you can find a good auto-colour guy, have him make up a rattle can for you. Local guy here made me up a precise AstroPhysics Corvette white can, matched to the UV fading of a 30 year old scope. Supercheap will also make you one up, but you'd need the paint code.

I think repainting an HEQ5 is a great idea - the plastic parts (esp. the front cover) look so different to the cast metal white that redoing it entirely evens it all out. Otherwise, it's cream and white hodgepodge.

[LewisM]

PS; for a computer spectrum scanned colour match, you need to give them a FLAT sample - which would mean on an HEQ5 taking in perhaps the puck head, or the whole mount, scanning the flat sides. You won't get a good match from a curved surface or i=rregular surface due to the intrusion of light from the sides (they CAN put a cloth around the scanner to minimise that, but I've never seen a close enough match). Also best to use a non-textured surface, which is gonna be hard with the "hammertone" white.

My best suggestion - go to Masters and buy Hammertone White (a pommy paint manufacturer - the only one I ever found in QLD), or try Appliance White from Bunnings or elsewhere (epoxy best)