I want MIRACLES!!

[TurboC--]

I am so p-ssed off right now.

[GameOver]

That's a bummer.  I always wonder how they can match the colors.  Say you want Pac Man yellow, but the guy before you bought pitch black.  If you've ever watched those paint machines, they dispense specific amounts of different primary colors (or something) to come up with the color the attendant punched in. 

So if the guy before you got all black, there's probably still some black in the dispenser form his paint that ends up in your can that I'm sure wasn't considered by the machine when it spewed out your color blend.

Good luck.  I hope you find someone that can mix a perfect match.

[TurboC--]

Well believe me, if previously-mixed color seepage is an issue, these guys would never admit to it or offer any help to prevent it.  I don't know how close they can get a color (on a good day) but this wasn't close enough.  And he kept going on about primer.  I don't care how much primer I put on first, if the color doesn't match, it doesn't match!  I can put it on thick, or thin, use a primer, if the color is wrong, it is wrong.  It was clearly too orange.  (The last one was too lemon, but I hadn't brought in the actual chip, so it's hard to blame them for that.)

Here's the infuriating and derailed train of logic this "paint expert" was on.  He said the paint that I brought in was too thin of a layer, and the plywood underneath was showing through, so what I wanted to do would never work.  This was the best possible set of chips off of the cab.  The paint was pristine and is as thick as anything on the cab.  So if there IS wood showing through, which is changing the observed color, IT DOESN'T MATTER!  The color is what it is! Your eye looks at it, and sees a color!  That's the color I want mixed!  But he just kept going on about primer and "it would never look right" and the miracles comment.  Maybe he thought I wanted "the original color of paint they used to paint the cab."  I don't NEED that, all I need is what it LOOKS like now.  Geez.

[TurboC--]

Just got back from Sherwin Williams.  Another failure.  But at least they were friendly, knowledgable and clearly explained WHY it is they could not possibly match my color.  (A different reason, that actually makes sense.)  Apparently, every paint base they now use, is grey.  As a result, there is a limit to how far from grey they can ever tint.  It excludes extremely bright colors, of which Pac-Man yellow is one of the brightest.  They didn't even have to waste time and paint mixing it.  Because, their machine tells them how many "deltas" off the mixed color will be from the machine-read color.  (At Home Depot they told me they don't even know THAT beforehand, they are flying blind.) 

Anyway.  They recommended I try an automotive place, since car paints can be tinted to anything, supposedly.  But that it would cost $50-$100 a quart of the lacquer stuff they use.  Bleh.  I'm gonna try some art supply stores and piss around online, and maybe I'll find a better option...

[Crazy Cooter]

House of Kolor.
http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/index.jsp

They do all kinds of automotive paints: lacquers, enamels, epoxies, flakes, & everything in between.  They'll be able to match it, but I don't know how much it will cost.  Years ago they used to send out samples... I don't know if they still do.  99% of their stuff is for automotive use AFAIK, so be sure to tell them what it's for.

[SirPeale]

So if the guy before you got all black, there's probably still some black in the dispenser form his paint that ends up in your can that I'm sure wasn't considered by the machine when it spewed out your color blend.

Doesn't work that way.  Each tint comes from a separate nozzle.

[GameOver]

So if the guy before you got all black, there's probably still some black in the dispenser form his paint that ends up in your can that I'm sure wasn't considered by the machine when it spewed out your color blend.

Doesn't work that way.

[Felsir]

House of Kolor.
http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/index.jsp

Aren't those the guys who do the paint for MTVs Pimp My Ride cars? There are some awesome colors there!

[DannyH]

i could mix and match by eye but those machines are sometimes too accurate. My dad is an expert at matching colours, problem is I couldnt give you the specific name of the colour.

I know this doesnt help but just saying a way you may want to go is find a house painter and see if he can mix you up that colour by hand, many of these guys have very very very good training in colour matching/mixing (in australia anyway) my dad has been in the industry for over 30 years, so someone like that may be able to mix a few litres up for you.

[RayB]

I've heard that "industrial yellow" is a perfect match. Is that not good enough? You're not the first guy to try and re-paint a PacMan. What have others used?

[2PacMan]

Why don't you just repaint your whole cab with a yellow that's 'very close'.

[RayB]

Turbo, I have always read that C-I-L Paint @ Home Depot, "Curry Spice" is a real close match. Did you look at that one? (Also look at "Golden Green")

[mahuti]

One thing to not about all color matching is translucence... which has something to do with primer, so I could see why someone would mention it in the context of color matching. Paints, dyes, pigments, stains, all have different bases, with different levels of opacity. Some acrylic colors have a white base, which is usually totally opaque (non see-thru.) Colors like ultramarine blue are much more translucent, so it's very difficult to get a bright smooth coat of it, without really, really knowing what you are doing. Many of the cool / vivid colors are this way. Any color with a little translucency is going to be very tough to use over the top of something else without having a bleed through. A coating of white primer (or white canvas, etc) will at least get your translucent color a good place to start.

Anyway, that being said, it's tough to get an index of translucency of your average home store paint. Fine art paints sometimes make mention of it. It's odd, though, I would consider the pac color one that could be based off of a white and totally opaque base... thus making it easy to paint over the top of something else, and immenently matchable.

There's a lot of other stuff I'm not mentioning about color matching, color theory, or real world application of paints here.

In general, I am surprised that you can't get a reasonably matched paint of that particular color. I guess, though, many times color matching is very difficult... it takes a human to really get it right, and a human that really knows what they are doing, might still be off a bit.
 

[Level42]

Don't you guys in the US use RAL colors ? This is a system identifying colours with codes. The windows of my house are painted with a red color, and I got the number in the booklet that came with my house. If I go to a painter, I mention the RAL code and they get exactly the same color....

http://www.inver.it/liquid/ral.html

Even better:

http://www.ral.de/farben/en/index.html

[TurboC--]

I worked hard to uncover the artwork.  I'm not going to cover it all up again.  That defeats the entire purpose of the restoration, and then none of my artwork is original.  I keep making this point, and no one listens.  I'd rather have "authentic" than "perfect".  So I just have to do the best I can.

None of the several internet-suggested paints I tried were even close.  So I'm just not going to go out and spend more money based on someone's online suggestion of "this one is close!"  I've gone through 3 separate paint-sample books with thousands of colors, and none of them were even remotely close to this yellow.  When you touch up it has to be near-exact.  It's not anal to want something to not look like an eyesore.  Yes the paint is faded in places, I am matching with the pristine paint that was under the coin door.  The front artwork will be totally redone (the large blocks of color I mean) just because it is so far gone.  The sideart I will touch up, and if it doesn't match because of fading, I'll just deal with that as best I can.

I was finally able to get a decent color match from Ace Paints, in the Benjamin Moore line.  It still isn't absolutely perfect, but it is closer than any of the paints I've tried yet.  I am debating whether I want to go back and get a tiny bit more gold added to it, since I may end up throwing it off more than it is.  In dim basement light it is indistinguishable, but in sunlight I can tell the difference.  I think.  I have to look again tomorrow and make a decision. 

As far as the blue and red/orange, they are somewhat close, but then again not.  Really frustrating.  I'm so damn tired of color matching, but after all this work it's a waste not to get it right...

[2PacMan]

I didn't mean paint over the artwork,just paint the background yellow color around the artwork, and leave the original grahics alone.  That way the background will be one solid color of yellow and not faded...if it's faded, it's not original, if you are touching up certain areas, then it's not original...the minute you put a brush to it, it's not original, so you might as well go for asthetic value as opposed to originality.....the minute you put a new overlay or bezel, or wiring in it, it's not original anymore, but they make it look more asthetically pleasing.  I'm not saying your anal, but......you've been to how many paint stores, with books of thousands of swatches at each place and none 'even come close'??  well good luck on the painting, i'm sure it'll work out. 

[mahuti]

Someone mentioned "color matching systems" They can get close. But not exact. Well, not everytime. Only if you're lucky. For instance... Pantone.. THE color matching System . Even their color matching chip books don't match each other. Pretty close ain't the same as "matched"

[TurboC--]

I didn't mean paint over the artwork,just paint the background yellow color around the artwork, and leave the original grahics alone.

That's what I am forced to do on the kickplate, just because the existing yellow (and everything else) is so bad.

[RayB]

Basically everything in the cab IS original.

[TurboC--]

Yeah, funny.

[Level42]

I agree with TurboC. I'd rather have a bit worn original artwork then completely fresh "new" artwork that is not original. Didn't know about the speckle thing, but it's those touches that make a thing original.
I am really interested in your touch up techniques, I'll need to so some touching up on  my Dominos cab as well.

I'd kill for an original Pac cab for a decent price around here. I actualy can't remember I ever saw a real original Pac/Ms.Pac cab. All the one's I played were conversions I guess, or my memor has a black hole