Help needed on pinstripes and flowers on Mills War Eagle cabinet

[slotjunky]

Hi everyone,

I want to add the pinstripes and flowers to the cabinet of my Mills War Eagle like shown on this picture I found and I was wondering if anybody can tell me what color was originally used. To me it looks a kind like beige or gold. Does anybody have a better picture or even a color code which matches best?
I appreciate any help.

[gameswat]

SlotJ - it's an old fashioned gold, a coarse grain that isn't so easy to find these days. I think they commonly added brass flakes to make it back then. Of course likely much brighter to begin with but has aged over time when original as the brass tarnishes.

[treefrog]

This thread if you did not see might be useful……

My only view on modern versions is they need to be toned down or aged somehow as that bright colour I have seen just looks wrong on a 80 year old machine.

Artwork on side of Mills bandits

[slotjunky]

Hello all thank you for the replies.

@Gameswat Do you have any name, manufacturer or color code/number on the vintage gold for me?

[gameswat]

@Gameswat Do you have any name, manufacturer or color code/number on the vintage gold for me?


No, I have actually collected old paint over the years for this reason. The old metallics are really hard to match with modern stuff. Though I also add powdered metal flake to get closer with my lacquers, sometimes fine or more often coarse. It's usually easier to age the paints and dull them down after applying. Trying to lay down a solid colour that looks old is near on impossible. It's the different tonal qualities of old paint that looks right. So I'll build up some dirty layers of stains etc over the paint then rub them back in various ways and keep building up fine layers, and some dirt layers will build up in the corners and crevices, and pit marks. Can look amazing but slow going. This Muto I did recently is all brand new paint, did take days to get it how I wanted though.

[aristomatic]

Looks smart, new but old.

[john t peterson]

Had you let me put it in the goat pen, Gameswat, I could have achieve the same look in two days.

J Peterson
Got your goat, USA

[gameswat]

Here's the Muto as found, was terribly rusty under the red overpaint so had to be sand blasted. Rather than trying to fill all the pitting I used it to my advantage with my aging techniques. I actually removed all the paint in the badly pitted areas and then lightly wet them for an hour. Then used a rust convertor chemical which blackens the exposed steel, which then appears just like old rusted steel or iron.

And recently restored this c1870 gothic revival pub table that someone before me had already sandblasted, then painted with terrible gloss black paint. The black came off with stripper but had no effect on the two pack grey primer underneath. The black did nothing to show the great castings, so I then hand painted over that grey with vintage red zinc paint. Then brushed on some layers of vintage gold lacquer. Then built up the layers of aging and wearing back after each successive coat.

[tallstory]

Rubbing in a dark coloured furniture polish when the paint has dried, works well too.

[pennymachines]

This is on another level!