The Hodaka Club Forum

I have my first Combat Wombat to restore and I don't see and military green paint on Paul's site for the air breather cover. Anyone have a suggestion for where to get a color in a rattle can that matches original color? Such a small amount to paint that color I prefer to use a rattle can.

Bchappy, let me know what u find out bout green color in rattle...Hoping to take first ride on my recently restored Combat.... Still looking for breather myself but using K&M sock filter til ifind oem ...
Thx Pre64new643

Pre64new64 wrote:Bchappy, let me know what u find out bout green color in rattle...Hoping to take first ride on my recently restored Combat.... Still looking for breather myself but using K&M sock filter til ifind oem ...
Thx Pre64new643

I may have one, I will check next time I get to my storage in the next week or two. Remind me ok.
Kelly

Rustoleum has a line of camouflage spray paints. One of them is 'Army Green'. You would have to try it out and see if it looks close enough to the shade Hodaka used.

Cheap, anyway, about $4 at Home Depot.

In the past I have looked everywhere to see if there was a can of spray paint that matched the color of the CW airbox. The original color has a lot of olive and not much drab! The old paint code that E and K cycles used to list from NAPA is incorrect and is too dark ( I tried it). Tamiya model paint has a few military O.D. colors in spray cans that look good but still no cigar. Richard

You might call Bill Cook and ask if he has anymore new air ckeaner Lids factory painted , I had bought one when E & K had the parts

Rich

Found something that is close and am using it. It is a Dupli-Color green primer and I am finishing with several coats of clear.
It is Part Number DAP 1690 and UPC 26916946904 just in case anyone else wants to try it. As Richard said still no cigar but it is close enough for a rider. Need to get decals ordered now.

Oddly, I have used that same combination to match so-called olive drab for my early CJ5, and it comes out pretty close to the WWII version of Army OD Green. Personally, I don't think the end result is quite as nice (rich and true) as a gloss color coat would be because the primer is a matte coat and the texture shows just a little bit through the clear coat, and because clear coat isn't really clear, it is every so slightly cloudy. Perhaps if the paint is built up just a bit, wet sanded carefully with 600 W/D or better to flatten the primer and reduce the matte finish, then clear coat. Anyway, I repainted a windshield frame and tailgate that way, and it has lasted now for almost 5 years without problems and no fading, whereas parts that were simply primered with the same primer all weathered out and disappeared more than a year ago, so I know the clear coat will help keep the primer from fading away.

I also would note that my local automotive paint store will color match anything you have, in either enamel or lacquer, and make up rattle cans, but for a price. About $17 a can as I remember but it is done with actual automotive paint, not Rustoleum stuff, so that might be worth a try if you have a piece of original paintwork left to use as a match sample. One can would do it, and my local supplier didn't have a minimum purchase, so you can get just one can. Might be worth looking into.

I found only one automotive paint store locally and their minimum order to match and put in a rattle can was 4 cans (about $70). The other problem is the Combat Wombat only has this one item that is that color and finding one that has original paint to match would be hard. So, again for a rider this suits my needs. If someone comes up with a better suggestion prior to installing the decals I can still paint over what I have.

Check out the OD green color in the Camo paint selection at the auto store. It is very similar to the green self-etching primer, but is a top coat (flat) but is UV stable, whereas the primer is not.

Are you putting on the clear after the decal? I've seen cans of satin clear that may work well.

I need to refinish a Wombat cover which is a satin or flat black.

Clear tends to lift decals. I would clear coat, then do a decal if you want to.

Clear tends to lift decals. I would clear coat, then do a decal if you want to.

I put decals on an 03 tank and side covers and used two coats of gloss clear under the decals and 2 coats over the decals 2 years ago and they are still there. I did let the coats dry a couple days between each coat. I worked all winter on that tank....about 10 coats in all. (And my grandson wonders why I won't let him ride it.)

I spoke with a gentleman out at Mid-Ohio that just paints tanks and parts for bikes. I asked about rough cost for doing a tank, of course it all depends, but around $500 on average. He has some beautiful examples of old Kawi and Yami 70s tanks.

I asked about decals. He also indicated that he clears first over the paint, then decals and then clears again, min 4 coats of clear he said.

His 0.02c.

Some Hodaka restoration expert should correct me if I'm wrong here . . . but Wombat air cleaner covers were neither matte nor flat black. They were the same paint as the frame (gloss black). Right?

Ed

As you can see on this picture of my new Wombat 94A just after I bought it, the air filter was a matte black. Other items matte black were the turn signal indicator and the speedo body. The headlight and mounts, chainguard, battery box and frame were the glossy black.

My model 94 Wombat also came with a matte black air cleaner cover, as was the exhaust pipe.

So I stand corrected - twice. Matte or satin black it is.

Note: I was actually corrected three times. A well known authority let me know I was off-base mere minutes after my "gloss black" post by direct e-mail. I still don't know why he didn't post the correction here on the chat board where it would have been available for all. (Hint, hint - you know who you are.)

Ed

Maybe said person does not like to publicly correct the Captain for fear of "walking the plank" aaarrrrggghhhh