Managed to buy my old bike back back after a 17 year absence. :)
Would like to know if it is an original colour - if so what would it be called and is there a colour code?
BSA used two shades of red in that period: Royal Red which is essentially crimson in colour and Devon Red which is essentially maroon in colour. You can get the original shades from the RS Paint if you go to their web site. This looks like an early A65/A50 that the web site indicates should be Royal Red.
It's difficult to tell from picture but it looks more Devon Red than Royal Red but doesn't quite match the slightly darker Devon Red I have had in the past from RS Paint.
Thanks for that. It's hard to tell from the photo but the tank is more maroon and darker than the rest and I believe is the paint it had when I owned it previously. The rest has been repainted and is a lighter colour. I'll check RS paint out though thanks.
The 1962 and 1963 catalogues show the standard A65 colour as polychromatic blue with black as alterrnative and flamboyant red available as an extra.
The 1964 and 1965 catalogues show the standard A65 Star colour as dark metallic blue with black as alternative.
Below from 1962 catalogue see under "Finish"
Perhaps the RS Paint web site is not as good as I thought! For a 1962 BSA A65 Star, they list the colours as: Nutley Blue, Sky Blue and Royal Red. The 1962 spares catalogue seems to only mention Metallic Green and Nutley Blue for the A50 and A65?
The picture of the A65 provided here, is not Royal Red or a Candy Red but doesn't look dark enough to me to be Devon Red which may suggest it's not the original colour?
Again, it's a bit difficult to tell from the picture but I wonder if the tank is painted in Flamboyant Candy Red? The mudguards and side panels are certainly painted in a flat red colour but, if the tank appears to be metallic paint like in appearance, it could well be Flamboyant Candy Red. My A65 is painted in this colour although I used a gold, rather than the original sliver, metallic basecoat and so mine appears a bit lighter in colour.
my Rocket 111 is flamboyant candy red . needs gold undercoat and someone who knows how to paint .
As said, I seem to remember the original BSA Flamboyant Candy Red used a silver metallic basecoat but many restorers now seem to prefer gold, which includes me. I got my B50T painted professionally in this colour but painted my A65 myself although it is very demanding to spray well because several layers of the red lacquer have to be used to give the right level of intensity of the red colour. If a silver basecoat is use, I think it produces a more pure red colour without the orange tint you see on my A65 and this Rocket 3.
Quote from: Spaceman on 30 Dec, 2022, 09:45
Again, it's a bit difficult to tell from the picture but I wonder if the tank is painted in Flamboyant Candy Red? The mudguards and side panels are certainly painted in a flat red colour but, if the tank appears to be metallic paint like in appearance, it could well be Flamboyant Candy Red. My A65 is painted in this colour although I used a gold, rather than the original sliver, metallic basecoat and so mine appears a bit lighter in colour.
The tank does have a hint of metallic about it. Flamboyant Red is a good shout.
If it is Flamboyant Candy Red then I would have thought that was the original colour - at least for the tank! As said, it was an option at the time although the RS Paint web site only lists it for the Lightning in 1962. If the tank finish is in good condition and you wanted to get the mudguards and side panels repainted, it's not the easiest paint to match from my experience because the final colour depends on the thickness of the red lacquer that's applied which is translucent above the metallic basecoat.