What colour is a Seagull's leg?

[Raya]

I've tried to match the paint colour of the seagull's lower unit using various off-the shelf colours which are available in spray cans. The silver I bought didn't come close (too bright) nor did the can of aluminium spray. I noticed that the original grey colour of the lower unit was pretty close to the colour of my shed (shale grey) but not close enough. I found that a base coat of shale grey with a light overcoat of aluminium came close to the original.

For my featherweight, I wanted it even closer, so I took an end cap from a century to a firm which had an optical colour match service. They cleaned up the paint on the cover and matched that colour (with a marine paint base). The result is pretty close but not perfect to my eye. I think that the age of the paint (and affect of the yellowish undercoat) of the original colour probably changes over time, thus altering the colour. To me, there seems to be a hint of green in the colour.

What is the accepted colour to re-paint the seagull leg? What colours do other members use?

(This question has probably been addressed before but I could't find a definitve answer using the search function.)

[fleetingcontact]

The yellowish undercoat may well be zinc-chromate primer which came in yellow and green forms. Seagull appear to have mostly used the green stuff. It is difficult stuff to get hold of here in the EU (at least for another week anyhow) on account of it being jolly poisonous.

The colour of the top-coat? No-one has yet given a definitive answer although some reckon Hammerite smooth is close enough and has the benefit of being available. Sounds like your colour-match stuff is even closer. Any green aspect in the top-coat is probably mould.

[Charles uk]

The colour varied over the years & they must have used a lot of paint as in the very early 70's their record month was 7000 seagulls.

[AusAnzani]

One of the issues with discussing paints on a forum like this is that they are not always available globally.

I tend to use a lot of VHT 127 Cast Aluminium or VHT 995 New Cast Aluminium these days, as they seem to be a close match to many of the Silver paints used on early outboards, and are readily available.They are high heat paints, and are chemical resistant so not affected by leaking oil or a splash of fuel.

The VHT 995 has a little more metallic fleck in it, which I rather like. VHT clear coat over the top adds depth and gives a more professional finish.

Very easy to apply.

Regards,
Spiro