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2 Topics: Japanese Helmet paint; and Can you add color to Bondo?
Greetings! Question the first: restoring a Japanese helmet and am having trouble matching the original paint. There is some left on the helmet, but when I take it to paint stores to computer color match they say there is not enough paint left over the area the computer sensor scans to determine paint mix. Does anyone have a color they use that is reasonably close to original?
Question the second: Restoring a German M16 that is quite pitted. I imagine I will use Bondo to fill the pits, but that introduces a problem. After I finish painting the helmet I age it with sandpaper and by striking it with various implements of mass destruction to create the normal chips and scratches relevant to field use. Naturally, gray Bondo shows through. Has anyone tried mixing a green color to Bondo to overcome this problem? If so, how did you accomplish this?
Thanks in advance for the benefit of your experience!
Mike
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09-27-2014 07:12 PM
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Still haven't found a good color code for paint for the Japanese helmet.
Evidently no interest in this topic, but some restorer may find it useful in the future. The reason you might wish to color Bondo for the surface of your helmet is if you intend to age the helmet by striking it with metal objects for surface distress. If your strike goes deep it will expose steel or Bondo, and if the Bondo is gray or white it ruins the effect. You can dye the Bondo to "steel gray" or a dark green or feldgrau by the addition of tempera paint.
To color Bondo I simply took about 2 tablespoons of Bondo in a small container - tuna fish can - and put in 3-4 drops of black tempera paint. Mix well, then add a small amount of hardener and mix again. I use a small 1 1/2" wide flat piece of plastic as a "scraper" to spread the Bondo over the pitted areas, scraping off as much of the leftover surface Bondo as possible. Dries hard in a few hours, then sand. Worked perfectly!
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