# Record Vice (and Plane) Paint - Roundel Blue.



## Cheshirechappie (21 Mar 2018)

Whilst rummaging about for something else, I inadvertently stumbled across a source of fairly small quantities of Record blue paint. It's machinery enamel, which is quite Good Stuff from previous experience, and supplied by Paragon Paints of York; they're a spin-off company of Stationary Engine Parts Ltd, so clearly understand the restorer mindset!

https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/BS381C- ... -Blue.html

A 500ml (that's about a pint) tin is £13-50 inc VAT, but no doubt post and packing will add a bit to that. That should cover enough planes and vices to keep most people happy for a lifetime or two!


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## Phil Pascoe (21 Mar 2018)

Out of curiosity does anyone know if Marples perpetually used a particular shade of red? :?


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## AndyT (21 Mar 2018)

Wow, a whole range of old machinery colours for Boxford, Myford and Colchester lathes as well. Good find.

https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/Worksho ... lours.html

And I reckon the Bright Red on there is pretty close to the only red Marples plane I have.

Nice to see that the Record colour is what they used when they were a Sheffield firm, not just an American owned brand.


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## NickN (21 Mar 2018)

Marples did use a shade of red called black at one time - I think the earliest ones but not sure about that. :lol: 

And the red they did use seemed to change:







Incidentally the Plastikote 'Metallic Red' paint is pretty close to the more modern (1960s+) Marples red.


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## AndyT (21 Mar 2018)

Ah, the value of a proper reference collection!


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## ED65 (22 Mar 2018)

This is great, and I do love a good old enamel. Seems very high spec, perhaps a little overkill for vices and plane bodies but it's nice to have some assurance of long-term performance for the next Careful Owner.

But as always I'm left with the question, which version of Roundel Blue? I'm partial to the very early colour, as seen on WW2 roundels, which this probably isn't.


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## Cheshirechappie (22 Mar 2018)

Well, that's a point - and it rather mirrors an ongoing debate in 'heritage' circles over such things as the exact shade of locomotive and carriage liveries. There are all sorts of variables such as how much has it faded over the years, what sort of light is the paint surface being viewed in, how clean or dirty is the paint surface, is the object varnished after painting or not, has the solvent specification changed and affected the deposition of pigment - and so on!

I think with planes and vices, the first consideration for most people would be 'does it do what it's designed for', and the exact paint shade would be secondary (indeed, for some people, whether or not it's painted at all is secondary!). That said, I don't think there's anything stopping someone from adding a wee touch of white or cream to the paint before applying it, if they feel the result would be more satisfying or closer to their preference.


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## Tasky (22 Mar 2018)

I've been seeing a fair few Record and Parkinson vices painted green, lately. 
More often it's the smaller 6-7" ones - Is that anything of significance?


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