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Old 03-03-19, 04:21 PM
  #21  
dddd
Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
 
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Northern California
Posts: 9,170

Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.

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My secrets to making touch-ups invisible are 1) keep the paint area no bigger than the defect, i.e. don't sand around the area and don't overlap the edges.
2) mix metallic silver paint with color paint, adding a drop at a time to the mix in a thimble until the color is right.
3) thin the paint so that if/when the applied color appears to need correction, a second layer of corrected color can simply be laid over the first. Adjust as you go in other words.

For "touch-ups" that involve some attempt at preventing rust in damp, corrosive environments, a suitable surface prep and primer will be best, but here in CA I never bother with that and suffer no rust-bubbling of the touched-up areas. It helps that I tend not to sweat on my bikes even when doing hard rides in the summer, but other riders don't seem to enjoy that luxury.

This Raleigh was a weathered mess when I bought it for $80 without the Campy parts (those came from a dumpstered Windsor). I was able to touch up the blue and silver areas using color paint mixed with metallic silver, and even touched up the decals. I think that it now looks good enough.
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