Ekco Case - Colour Matching

[DonaldStott]

I have an Ekco A455 that has a case in serious need of a re-spray due to a number of deep scratches and dings that will of course be filled and sanded down to a smooth finish with wet & dry.

I've had previous success stories with re-spraying Bakelite cases where a good match has been Halfords Brazil Brown but this Ekco appears to be a more of a reddish-brown?

Anyone know the exact colour and if a suitable matching spray paint can be sourced?

[David G4EBT]

I think your best bet would be to take the cabinet to a Halfords, look at their aerosol colour chart and select the car colour that's nearest match.

There are firms which will do an exact colour match and fill an aerosol can. They have shade cards with a 15mm hole in the centre and place the over the item to get an exact match, then mix a can to that colour. Usually to match paint for cars that have faded due to UV, but that's a bit extreme for a radio cabinet.

As to primer, I can recommend Auto Tek Grey Primer, which I've used extensively when respraying Bakelite cabinets. It's widely available and adheres really well to Bakelite and hard plastics, but Halfords do their own etch primer which will be compatible with the gloss aerosols.

Good luck with sprucing up the cabinet!

[DonaldStott]

Thanks David - the search for a matching paint is probably just as difficult as a search for a Halfords! Just checked their website and the entire paint range has been ‘updated’!

Our local Homebase used to provide a similar scanning and colour matching service but that’s recently closed as well!

I’m already a convert to Auto Tek Grey Primer having followed up on another of your helpful recommendations.

[David G4EBT]

There are companies which will provide a wide range of colours of aerosols from the three main colour chart standards - 'RAL, Pantone & British Standards'.

'Spray Paints Shop' for example, will supply 204 RAL colours, 945 Pantone colours, and 116 British Standard 381C colours:

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product/all-ral-aerosol-spray-paints-colours/

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product-category/pantone-aerosol-colour-matching/

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product-category/british-standard-381c-colour-range/

It's difficult to gauge what the colours really look like due to the limitations of viewing them on a PC monitor.

Looking at what they have available, the following might be worth considering:

BS381C 'Dark Brown-412':

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product/british-standards-b...dark-brown-412-aerosol-spray-paint/

BS381C 'Dark Camouflage Brown-436':

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product/british-standards-b...lage-brown-436-aerosol-spray-paint/

BS381C 'Service Brown-499':

https://aerosolspraypaints.co.uk/product/british-standards-b...vice-brown-499-aerosol-spray-paint/

Interesting to read about how the colour systems came into being:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAL_colour_standard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone

(Note the fallout of Pantone with Adobe in 2022 and the impact it had on Photoshop users).

https://www.britishstandardcolour.com

Hope that might help a bit.

[VT FUSE]

This should be a “sticky” having this available to those refinishing Bakelite cabinets and other related electrical enclosures. There was until his retirement, a chap running a car paint shop locally who would custom fill aerosol spray cans, he required a clean T Cut prepared area on which to place a hand held scanning device that by some wizardry came up with the correct colour that was so accurate that it would suit a part repair for example sides of a cabinet. Would be worth looking online for paint suppliers who can scan a colour and custom fill an aerosol can.
Thank you David, I have saved your links.
Mike.