Good morning all!

I know this subject keeps coming up to the point of being boring, however does anyone out there know paint codes for the following colours.

LT flake grey, used for exterior relief bands

LT Green Line Dark Green

LT Green Line Light Green

LT Hiswick Ream, used for exterior relief bands.

As I said we seem to go round and round with these codes but I would like to get them right.

Thanks

Andy

My bus number (if any): RM2059, RMC1490, RCL2243, RML2515, RMA14, RF48, RF372

Hi Andy,
Try giving Blackpool busworks a call , they are helpfull and may be able to help as they have repainted quite a few LT buses . Might be easier than trying to cross reference the old LT codes for a near match.

Mark

My bus number (if any): RML2391

I agree with Mark in it being pointless trying to get paint using LT part numbers, they meant something to LT and no one else. The problem is over the years different suppliers have sold paint in the colours listed but this has not always been the right type of paint for everybody's requirements, some people spray, others do hand painting and now there is the modern two pack stuff.

There is a list on the ROOF website
http://www.rmoof.co.uk/Paint%20for%20your%20Routemaster.htm
listing the various colours and suppliers but I don't know how up to date that is or if anyone has recently managed to get any of the paints listed, I know Chris Dobbing had his buses painted at the Bus Works so maybe Chris can let you know what was used.

My bus number (if any): RMC 1485 and RTL 960 plus loads of RTs

It has certainly become a serious problem for the restorer/preservationist who wants to get it right.
This is largely down to the many paint company takeovers and mergers in recent years coupled with the EU standardisations and pigment chemical restrictions now imposed.
RAL and BS standards have become rationalised of late and despite technology existing to the contrary, much data is being lost.

A lot of the correct numbers and the research by several people into compiling paint codes is excellent but it still does not guarantee that the paint shade will be correct. The variations in Greens on country buses that I saw last summer was confirmation of that. A bus parked alone was fine but several together, all different shades of the same spec. Which one is actually the right one?
Probably for me the best was the one with the weathered state, it looks like most country buses looked in the 70's!

A lot of beautifully refinished vehicles are sadly the wrong shade of red or green and I have to say I feel for the owners and the craftsmen who have laboured and shelled out to produce something that is at the end of the day, wrong.
Even Marshalls got it wrong with the RM refurb project and the first vehicles were out shopped in the wrong red and had to be repainted straight away. And that was from data supplied from TfL. Even then the red was still wrong. However the reds and cream used when the heritage fleet was repainted at it's launch was correct.

There are two ways to get this right. One is to seek out the owners of best of the preserved vehicles and ask for the details of their paint.
The other is to find a part of the bus that is untouched from new.
For RMs the bulkhead area below the bonnet and behind the nearside wing often reveals its original finish and under the dirt you will find unfaded reds or greens. A good colourist can match that.

It's a shame that the LTM has not got samples which can be colour matched and BS coded or spectographed for a new composite code. I'm sure they were awarded a grant several years ago to do exactly that. Maybe it has been done. Worth asking them.

Something else that needs to be watched is the composition of some paints.
In the old days it was easy. Buses were pained in oil based enamels and later Busline spray paints. Cheap paint that had a 3-5 year life.
It has become so complex now that it is a real science in itself and it is a mine field.
The paint systen has to be the same from etch coat to top coat. Some paints will react with alloys of different compositions so it might be fine on an RMs alloy panels but may react on the strapping can look like 'rust spiders' under the surface. Again, the same paint may not finish on the GRP panels or bond properly causing blisters and crazing within months.

Oil based enamels are to be banned europewide in the next 16 months so it will be really hard to find a traditional coating although cadmium (which stops reds from fading) has been of limits for quite some time anyway.