Black paint Slimline tank badges

Previously tom_steele wrote:

Hi everyone,

Just got round to painting my tank on the 650ss thanks for all the brilliant advice on the paint colour looks amazing

just a quick one got some replacement badges and want to paint the black bit around the norton on them what paint and colour shade is right? guessing its enamel with them being chrome?

sure someone mentioned blackberry black but not sure if thats right

Thanks in advance,

Tom

Hello Tom Its in red Not black Yours Anna J

Looks quite wrong in red - my badges are black background - Johnstone's gloss black because that's what was lying around. Probably wrong, but frankly I don't care.

Hi Tom,

definitely black, not red. I do not own an SS currently , but here is an original Norton ad:

Hi Tom,

As far as I know the only bikes that had the red backing were the Manxmans with the Red Seat, all other single colour tanks had black (even the Red Tank Atlas's) and the Two-tone tanks had off-white.

I found the best paint for that kind of thing are the Humbrol enamels in 20ml tins from model shops.

Cheers,

Niall

Previously tom_steele wrote:

thanks everyone brilliant information loved looking at that original advert,

and ill pick som humbrol paint up of the model shop guessing its a gloss finish ? really excited about seeing the badges painted coming along great now the tanks all painted

thanks again,

Tom

Don't forget that if you have rechromed the badges you will need an etch primer to give the black satisfactory adhesion.

Previously niall_topping wrote:

Hi Tom,

As far as I know the only bikes that had the red backing were the Manxmans with the Red Seat, all other single colour tanks had black (even the Red Tank Atlas's) and the Two-tone tanks had off-white.

I found the best paint for that kind of thing are the Humbrol enamels in 20ml tins from model shops.

Cheers,

Niall

No the Norton manxman Tank badges Are in Blue to go with the tank . if you have a sliver tank there normally in red so the Norton logo stands out . and the manxman seat is red with white piping . not all red, as some try to make us believe

yours Anna J

.

Tom, go with your own choice of colour! I painted the 'Norton' surround green to match the frame colour. I used Humbrol modellers enamel paint and its lasted 50 years...no primer etc just straight from the tin.

regards JMB

Previously eugene_brolund wrote:

Hi Tom,

definitely black, not red. I do not own an SS currently , but here is an original Norton ad:

This is a Black a White illustration of a 650SS and NO prof of colour

Previously niall_topping wrote:

Hi Tom,

As far as I know the only bikes that had the red backing were the Manxmans with the Red Seat, all other single colour tanks had black (even the Red Tank Atlas's) and the Two-tone tanks had off-white.

I found the best paint for that kind of thing are the Humbrol enamels in 20ml tins from model shops.

Cheers,

Niall

No your Wrong The Manxman As a Blue back ground on the tank badge

Previously john_baker2 wrote:

Tom, go with your own choice of colour! I painted the 'Norton' surround green to match the frame colour. I used Humbrol modellers enamel paint and its lasted 50 years...no primer etc just straight from the tin.

regards JMB

And No to Humbrol paint is way to soft and will come off easily. you need Nu-again touch up paint in cellulose or nail varnish like I use ,

In black and white photos, red shows as a lighter shade, the photo shows a dark background.

I am sure there are some actual 650ss owners that can comment on this????

As a 650SS owner for many years, and my current 1966 model was purchased unrestored from the previous originalowner, I can catagorically state that the badges are BLACK not red as some self opinionated people try to enlighten us.

I've just taken a 1964 650ss in for some re-commissioning work, I'm assured the bike has had just the one owner from new & has been laid up since the mid/late seventies, it has never had any cosmetic work of any kind & still looks rather nice, the tank badges definitely have Black backgrounds & the owner assures me that's the way they were when he took delivery of the machine in 64. (The tank is in the traditional silver)

With regard to the type of paint to use, I would go for Humbrol enamel, I've used this for all sorts of detailing over the years to good effect, it's available in very small tins so not too much waste if you don't use it all & as John Baker testifies, it lasts for years, not sure why Anna says it's way too soft & will come off easily. Any paint will chip off a chrome finish if it gets knocked about, but it's reasonably well protected on the tank badge as it's fairly well recessed.

Regards, Tim