Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/23/one-mans-search-for-the-exact-shade-of-apple-beige.html
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I smell an upcoming online auction. should go for about 500K$
Apropos nothing: I had an Apple ][ when I was 12, and it took until I was maybe 40 to realize why they called the knob controllers “paddles.”
Because pong.
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I actually find myself often with an antique machine that needs repainted, and I have to choose a color that’s close.
Is there any store nationally in the US that can mix paint to an exact pantone shade?
What about with powdercoating? I had to have an antique watch cleaning machine powder coated to a specific shade of green and I I have since found two other machines with the original paint- and I was wondering how someone can take something a specific shade if you shave something off and figure out what Pantone color it should be.
Anyone know anything?
If so, the feud between Anish Kapoor and Stuart Semple may take a turn for the bland pretty soon.
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as far as I’m concerned, that argument was settled years ago:
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Sorry not me.
I suspect this is an almost impossible task to be 100% accurate with colour matching given one would have to take into account the colour temperature of the light source illuminating the sample in a real world environment.
Perhaps in a ‘perfect black’ room with a perfect 100% mix of RGB white light via LED illumination would be the way to go. But this is assuming Pantone colour integrity, the mixing YMCK pigments can be tested in a pristine environment.
I suspect the only way to achieve a perfect match is with the original paint/pigment as the process of analyzing and replicating a true colour match is dependent on an imperfect lighting environment.
Also the reflective nature or sheen of a paint would further complicate things.
There is a automotive paint specialist in Dublin that have provided this service for decades. I doubt this service is unique so I expect you should be able to find one near you.
I would be inclined to polish a portion of the existing paint with T-Cut to remove the oxide layer and get back to the original colour. Then use this as the basis for a match.
AFAIK, powder coat can be got in pretty much any Pantone or RAL code too.
Color matching is a fairly common offer at paint stores. I recall a series of commercials from maybe twenty years ago that had people bringing in weird objects to be matched. Of course, the characteristics of the original and replacement paint may differ. That’s why they always say to take the paint chips home and look at them in real conditions. Many paint companies have color matching phone apps. That might help (though I’m not sure I trust my phone camera to be that accurate).
With respect to the original topic, I wonder about fading and yellowing over time. Can we really be sure that this is “Apple beige” as it looked then? I feel like my remaining beige objects are more yellow than they once were. I don’t know whether that’s an actual shift or an aesthetic shift.
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Looks like Isopon filler beige. Brings back memories of many crap cars.
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