Primer issue

[Joel_W]

   I've run into a strange issue with the Mr. Color gray primer. I had primed all the various body shell panels for the Lotus 48b except the nose cone, then assembled the shell around the tub. I had to modify the nose cone and do a fair amount of body work as I've posted in my build blog. Then when I went to prime it, the bottle was just about empty, so I got another bottle off the shelf. These bottles were all purchased at the same time, but I have no idea if they came from the same lot. Anyway,  I primed the nose cone, and when dry just gave it a slight rub with 3,000.

   Then last night when I temp attached it to the main body for check for it prior to the color coats, i noticed that it's a slightly darker shade of Gray.  Since the color is going to be a very dark stock lacquer blue by Gravity, will the slight difference cause the nose to look even darker then the body? I'm thinking no as the color is very dark, but I've never had this issue before. 

   Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Joel

[4wheels]

I wouldn't think it would make any difference with such a dark color. I guess the safest approach would be to spray a quick coat of the new primer over all the other parts first, a lot more work, I know, but a sure thing!

Brian

[4wheels]

A couple more thoughts on the subject. Do you think most teams back then (esp. smaller ones), worried if the paint on a replacement panel was EXACTLY the same as the older ones? Did the paint manufacturers even have batch numbers then? No TV and few sponsors to keep happy!

[Joel_W]

4Wheels,
I'm also thinking that the one shade darker of the primer won't be an issue with the dark blue.

As for back in the good old days, paint was whatever the local guy had on hand or what he could mix to a chip. With that being said, original color pictures of the non-restored car are few and far between. On the other hand Walker's Lotus was almost certainly painted in his own shop by his body guys, and the odds are that the paint was from the same batch from the paint company for that season's car body and replacement panels.

Joel

[arcticwolf]

Joel, just a tidbit of info here. The Lotus used to win the British GP was a brand new car fresh from the factory. It replaced the one burned to a crisp in the workshop fire. So it was probably painted by Lotus.
And yes, back then, whatever was lying around that looked close.

[Joel_W]

Paul,
Thanks for the info. I wouldn't have assumed that the factory would have painted it in Walker's colors, but then again, they could have driven the paint to them.

Joel