The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi,

I wondered if anyone had used a suitable pain to restore an HMV green (standard type) tin horn? I was contemplating leaving the one I have as is, but there's just too much rust to contend with.

Want to make it the right shade of green, or at least as near as I can. Problem is that no one local will match without a sample, and the horn is too bulky for them to use as is. Don't really fancy cutting a section out!

Any help would be appreciated, I am in the UK so any UK products would be preferred.

Thanks!

If you have smart phone or tablet, you can take a picture of an existing color and match the formula. You need a color match app from the app store to make it work... Good luck.

Thanks Curt, I don’t want to fully restore, just touch up in places where it’s a bit rusted. I’ll try that thanks!

Art supply stores have paint pens in multiple dozens of slightly varying shades. For the touch-up work you want, this may be all you need. Some of these pens have fairly wide, paint brush tips. However, if you still want paint, getting the correct shade with a paint pen may allow for color matching at a paint store.

Unfortunately, green paint is very difficult to match perfectly. It consists of various combinations of blue and yellow and if it is original "Paris green", it gets its unique shade from arsenic. It's a beautiful and unusual shade of green, which for obvious reasons lost popularity after people died from being exposed to it - sort of like Uranium glass that glows under black light...