Typewriter Talk / Color match for SC Desert Sand?

**Posted by ESC4P3** 30-1-2023 11:48:25

Anyone find a good match to do some touch up painting for my 1960 Smith Corona Portable Electric 5TE in Desert Sand?

**Posted by Uwe** 30-1-2023 12:22:35

My short answer is no, but then again I don't tend to touch-up paint and I can't recall if I own any Desert Sand Smith-Corona models. You could remove the ribbon cover or space bar and take it to your local specialty paint shop, which undoubtedly will have a colour matching system. This might provide the closest result for your specific typewriter's colour that might have changed slightly (or a lot) over the years.

**Posted by OregonJim** 30-1-2023 12:57:09

How much of a perfectionist are you?

Experience tells me it will always look like a touch-up job unless you mix the paint with a medium and spray it on to match the texture (as well as the color). Even then, it takes an experienced hand and eye. I'm not good enough - for me, the choice would be to leave it alone or strip and repaint...

**Posted by Pete E.** 30-1-2023 14:59:32

Go to your local Hobby Lobby and find acrylic paint by DecoArt - Americana series. Find a base color that is close to what you have on your ribbon cover (take that off the machine and into the store).

Then go to the aisle where they have Testor's paints (in a flat finish) and find some colors that will help you get to the base color on your machine with some custom mixing. This will take some trial and error to get the mix just right. I use areas of the underside of the machine or the ribbon cover as my "test areas".

If the original crinkle paint is scraped away and there is bare metal, I use latex caulking (with zero % silicone in it) and dab on the latex with a q-tip to recreate the crinkle texture. Let that dry for 2 days or so. For little chips that will fill in with paint, I do not apply any latex caulking.

Then I will mix up small amounts of the Hobby Lobby paints until I am happy with the mix/color and then use a small artist brush with its bristles cut off, short... and apply the paint in a dabbing technique and not using brush strokes. I use a dry paint brush with not a lot of paint...sometimes dabbing my brush dry on a paper towel before applying the brush to the metal surface. I apply the paint very lightly and add more paint 2-3 more times with some drying time in between...again dabbing with a dry-brush. Once the original area is touched up, I will dab on some more paint very lightly and radiate out away from the area of damage/repair to help blend in the new paint (color and texture) with the surrounding original area of paint.

Here is my S-C Tower President which needed some touch ups. You cannot see the areas of touch-up after I was done. I started with "Khaki Tan" from DecoArt and added very small amounts of yellow and some rose "flat" paint from Testors until I was happy with the mix.
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**Posted by ESC4P3** 30-1-2023 21:26:15

Thanks for the great responses!
yeah, we were at hobby lobby yesterday and sounds like we found the same color and the color chart for mixing colors being discussed. I was surprised to see on the chart that the mixture of yellow and purple was the closest match.

i’m not going to be a perfectionist about the areas that i want to touch up. I got this typewriter for $50 and it all works as intended after some cleaning. The ribbon cover was nearly flawless. Mostly just the section below the space bar is where it needs a little tlc.

Thanks for the advice!

**Posted by ESC4P3** 30-1-2023 21:28:08

Your Tower looks fantastic Pete.

**Posted by Pete E.** 31-1-2023 10:54:47

It's a very good machine...as well as my Silent Super.

Between the two, the Tower is more alluring.

I won a slow-day auction on Shop Goodwill and it set me back about $ 62 all inclusive.
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**Posted by ESC4P3** 31-1-2023 11:58:41

Cool. I also have a silent super, but mine is a 1954 in sapphire gray with green keys/stripes/trim. Those are my only two so far. I wanted the electric version of my silent super.

**Posted by Pete E.** 31-1-2023 12:56:49

John,

The machine & case color combination I like the most is from my 1970's ADDO manual typewriter. It is really a Facit 1620 model but re-badged and offered in a different color-scheme after Facit acquired the ADDO firm (then only an adding machine company), and allowed this version to be sold as as ADDO offering. It was called the ADDO Model 621. Still made in Sweden.
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**Posted by ESC4P3** 31-1-2023 13:51:15

Interesting. I don’t really know anything about Facits other than i saw the ones on your shelves you posted. I only recently became interested in typewriters after seeing the film California Typewriter late last year. That inspired me, as many others have been to start paying attention. Then my wife bought me my Super Silent for Christmas and I was hooked.