# UFO-Skydiver paint question



## modelguy123 (Feb 2, 2005)

I'm about to start on one of my "Grail" kits, the Wave vinyl Skydiver from Gerry's UFO. I've got a boatload of reference material, including a couple of Japanese model books and the big articles from Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller. But my big problem is that everyone says the correct paint for the main color is "Ford Oyster Gold" and they get it from Halfords in England. Does anyone know of a similar color that's available in the US (or perhaps a suggested custom mix)? And since it's a vinyl kit, acrylic would be a big help.

Just an FYI, I just recently finished my other "Grail" kit, the Halycon vinyl Nostromo (I know, they're worth big bucks and I paid a lot for them, but I buy to build, not to collect).

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Paint is such a tricky thing. Skydiver always looked either green or some kind of bronze-ish shade to me. Yet looking at the pics in 'Century 21 FX' yes, there's very clearly a dirty gold look to it. Huh.

Man that's still a beautiful design. Screams for a decent injection plastic kit to be made. 

Do the instructions for the WAVE kit have the starboard side deco'ed correctly? To the best of my memory we NEVER saw Skydiver from starboard, but according to pics it's very interesting! 'SHADO Skydiver' is written out on the sail, same typeface, smaller size than the big Skydiver on the port side.


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## Zathros (Dec 21, 2000)

*The product enterprise skydiver that I have , as well as the konami is indeed a "bronze/Greenish color. id venture to say that this would have to be a custom paint mix.

Z
*


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

modelguy123 said:


> Just an FYI, I just recently finished my other "Grail" kit, the Halycon vinyl Nostromo (I know, they're worth big bucks and I paid a lot for them, but I buy to build, not to collect).
> 
> Thanks,
> Mike


Mike, any chance of seeing pics of the Nostromo? And yes, I bought mine to buld too....one day.

HAL9001-


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## pagni (Mar 20, 1999)

I had this kit at one time and it has issues... good luck with it.
I believe the original instructions had the paint mix instructions.
It's a combination of brown, gold, perhaps a touch of copper.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Unfortunately they won't ship spray paint from England to the US.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

I was fortunate enough to have a fellow member here ship me a chip. It's an interesting and elusive color. The chip shifts from kind of silverish to kind of goldish. It has been suggested that it's a combination of gold and silver, IIRC. That might be something to experiment with. 

The colors seen on screen are another matter altogether, of course. It may be better to go for an "on screen" appearance in this case.

I like the color of the PE version but am going to experiment with the silver/gold combo for my semi-accurized Bandai version.


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## Brisfx (Nov 10, 2005)

Take a look at Cassini.Models page. A buddy of mine here in.Australia runs it. Should help you 

Brad


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

PerfesserCoffee said:


> I was fortunate enough to have a fellow member here ship me a chip. It's an interesting and elusive color. The chip shifts from kind of silverish to kind of goldish. It has been suggested that it's a combination of gold and silver, IIRC. That might be something to experiment with.
> 
> The colors seen on screen are another matter altogether, of course. It may be better to go for an "on screen" appearance in this case.
> 
> I like the color of the PE version but am going to experiment with the silver/gold combo for my semi-accurized Bandai version.


Yeah, because at least to my eyes Skydiver has a definite matte green look, almost one of those German WW II greens.

I've been hearing some buzz about a prismatic clearcoat that shifts to a greenish tone depending on the angle of light/viewing. Wonder if that over flat gold might do the trick...


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

I found this mixing guide on Eagle Transporter....

To mix 1 litre Ford Oyster Gold in Standox (basecoat) paint system

590 (silver) - 856.9 grams
580 (yellow) - 24.1 g
582 (copper) - 42.4 g
567 (red oxide) - 3.8 g
571 (jet black) - 3.8 g
570 (white) - 2.9 g


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

It looks like Standox is available in North Am.

http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/b/stx/home.html

So a body shop supply could make up a can, or a spray bomb.
Some places are fussy about selling to the public, but others will do it.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

miniature sun said:


> I found this mixing guide on Eagle Transporter....
> 
> To mix 1 litre Ford Oyster Gold in Standox (basecoat) paint system
> 
> ...


That sounds like it would do the trick. :thumbsup:


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## seaQuest (Jan 12, 2003)

Some things get lost in translation.
The color is, specifically, 1968 Ford Sunburst Gold Metallic.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Wait, what happened to Ford Oyster Gold?

Isn't sunburst the orange they used on the Lunar Module carrier?


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## Hunch (Apr 6, 2003)

It took me the better part of 2 years to get the exact color. Finaly I got a chip of the real deal and can say with certainty that if you mix = parts gold, silver and olive drab you will be very close to the color. It will look very "gold" but once dirtied down is dead on. You may have to add less than a drop of of each color to get it right along the way, but without a chip getting it right will be next to impossible.
By the way the product enterprise Skydiver color is wrong, so is the Konami toys. Dont go by that. I have hundreds of pics of the original, plus screen grabs and no two pics looks exactly the same. Metallics are a bitch. Good luck.
JW


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

Hunch said:


> I have hundreds of pics of the original, plus screen grabs and no two pics looks exactly the same. Metallics are a bitch. Good luck.
> JW


I agree on the metallics and the smaller the scale the worse it gets.
I tried a bronze metallic on my Deckard Sedan from Blade Runner and it looked like a toy...I've settled for a solid colour instead.


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## Nektu (Aug 15, 2001)

This debate is like the "what color is Thunderbird 2?" one that's been around for years. All of the models were touched up, or repainted constantly. There were two principal colors for Skydiver, the previously mentioned oyster gold and the sunburst metallic. Many discusssions have never been definitive, but according to Jeff Wargo, Martin Bower, and other pretty reliable sources, the main body was a dirtied down oyster gold, and the nose of sky one before the canopy was the sunburst color. Some silver and off shades were on the wings of sky one. 
Any other opinions are probably not wrong. The Konami is too green, PE was too gold/brown (depending on how wacky they got with the weathering!)
Martin Bower's six footer is pretty right on in my mind.
Best, K


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

There's also layer after layer of 'anti-flare' and powdered paint (used to help hide the wires against the backdrops) that likely had drifted down onto the models during filming. Doubtless that added an entirely different level of weathering to the existing paint.

I think it must be a case of "does it look right to your eyes" above all else.


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