“Mr. Original" broke out of his comfort zone. With the posts and PM's that were made re: "What color should I paint my ER?", the overwhelming consensus was "maroon". Obviously, the was never a factory OEM color but figured that on this unit, I "might" be different. Not fully convinced to paint it this color yet but needed to prototype it to see. Can always repaint it like it “should be” in the future. This time……decided to be bold.
Couldn't find any of the Rustoleum Hammered Maroon I talked in an earlier posst so went with Rustoleum Burgundy Gloss Enamel. Cheaper and DEEPER in color than the hammered which I like better anyway. Comes close to matching my RX-7 and also affyx's '55 Chevy. With the rough texture already on the ER's cast iron headstock, wasn't sure if it was worth the search OR the 6 can minimum case purchase to go with the hammered paint anyway so…… it is what it is.
First, I painted the inside of the headstock with 3 coats of gray primer. Really brightened it up!! I don't have a real good before shot but here's the best I could come up with.
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Had to decide what to do with the tube lock handles. Bought one can each of Rustoleum Specialty Metallic Gold and Metallic Silver spray paint. The cap on the cans made it look like gold and chrome plating but in actuality, it doesn't’t come out anywhere near that well on any part with less than a perfect surface finish. Applied 3 coats of the metallic spray paint PLUS 3 coats of clear enamel on top but still doesn't look like a plated part. Not sure what I’ll do from here but here’s what they look like. (sorry for the funky black background)
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The gold looks the best with the burgundy but…..it also looks a little cheesy, like gold painted Christmas decorations. Had it looked like gold plating it would have looked AWESOME.
Finally, painted the headstock. Applied 3 coats of the burgundy enamel. Could have done it in 2 coats had I applied primer over the original paint. If the original paint been uniform, I wouldn't have needed the primer but since there were areas with paint missing, it took 3 coats to cover. I have to post the pics in the next message since I’ll exceed the max number of pictures in this one.
