The search for a Plasti-Kote GM7173 equivalent...

[AnubisGuard]

The Plasti-Kote name for the color was "silver sand metallic," and googling that turns up the paint code GM15W Silver Sand Gray Metallic, aka WA8311. The paint chip for that one turns out to be a sort of blue-gray, however.

This is annoying me.

Edit: I went one up the color chart to GM18 Silver Sage Metallic, and it looks promising. Check out that color chip. 7173 being the equivalent of GM15 was the word on the street back in the ASAP days, and here's an old reference to it on StarShipModeler, but I wonder where people got that info from. Was it just an assumption based on the "silver sand" name?

Double EDIT: GM changed their color codes after 1998; from '99 onward WA216B is a cyan-silver. If you order a can, be sure it's 1998 or earlier.

 

[CB2001]

This is a very interesting thread. To be honest, Duplicolor is a pretty good brand for painting (I used to use it for my model cars when I was in my early 20s, primarily because of how it went on smooth and dried fast).

 

[Tripper]

Damn, that’s too bad. I was hoping the eBay find wound turn up something more accurate. I‘ve spent a lot of time trying to match this paint. I have a screen used boomerang phaser and it grinds my gears I can’t perfectly match up all my other 7173 replicas to it. Check out my thread on building a replica of my screenused boomerang where I talk about having the paint scanned. Even with scanning I had to have them tweak the formula to bring it closer. After at least $60 worth of buying different formulas to test I just settled for the closest I could get. Obviously in the photos you can tell there’s a difference but it’ll have to do. I share the formula if you’d like to pick up from there: Building the perfect boomerang phaser replica... with a screenused prop for reference

 

[AnubisGuard]

Damn, that’s too bad. I was hoping the eBay find wound turn up something more accurate. I‘ve spent a lot of time trying to match this paint. I have a screen used boomerang phaser and it grinds my gears I can’t perfectly match up all my other 7173 replicas to it. Check out my thread on building a replica of my screenused boomerang where I talk about having the paint scanned. Even with scanning I had to have them tweak the formula to bring it closer. After at least $60 worth of buying different formulas to test I just settled for the closest I could get. Obviously in the photos you can tell there’s a difference but it’ll have to do. I share the formula if you’d like to pick up from there: Building the perfect boomerang phaser replica... with a screenused prop for reference

It's the right value but it's not brown enough. Amazing how difficult this is to match.

On Saturday, I fired off an email to Plasti-Kote customer service asking what the OEM code was for the 7173 formula. I'm not expecting a helpful answer, but if anyone should be able to tell us it should be them.

 

[Tripper]

Yeah, brown and some more black to darken it up. Maybe if I ever get around to refinishing my TNG/DS9 rifle I’ll try for a closer match. Looking forward to your results.

 

[Zombie Killer]

 

[AnubisGuard]

Edit: I went one up the color chart to GM18 Silver Sage Metallic, and it looks promising. Check out that color chip. 7173 being the equivalent of GM15 was the word on the street back in the ASAP days, and here's an old reference to it on StarShipModeler, but I wonder where people got that info from. Was it just an assumption based on the "silver sand" name?

Well, it's not GM18/WA216B Silver Sage metallic either. It's close though. Too saturated and a little too yellow/gold.

 

[Dreamscape]

I think that one is a bit on the dark side and a tad too much copper. Although it might help to see it on a flat object so we're not getting saturation and reflection from objects not directly above (so we can compare to the mobile emitter.

 

[AnubisGuard]

I think that one is a bit on the dark side and a tad too much copper. Although it might help to see it on a flat object so we're not getting saturation and reflection from objects not directly above (so we can compare to the mobile emitter.

Here it is on a flat sheet of styrene, under a few different lighting conditions. It's a touch too dark/saturated, but the big problem is the highlights aren't silver enough – the specular reflections on 7173 are basically neutral. The color only shows up in shadows.

The WA216B is frustratingly close in some ways. I think the metal flake inside it is tinted brown*, while in 7173 the flake is uncolored. (The color looks closer in the photos than it does in real life.)

*Nope. Decanted some of it and the flake is silver.

 

[Dreamscape]

Personally I'd be very happy with that. Apart from lightening it up a very small fraction I don't think you could get much closer without a lot more effort to find specific colours with specific metal flakes in.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Another one:

 

[AnubisGuard]

I'm tempted to spray both WA216B and Medium Marblehead at the same time and see what happens.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Personally I'd be very happy with that. Apart from lightening it up a very small fraction I don't think you could get much closer without a lot more effort to find specific colours with specific metal flakes in.

Yeah. When I don't have the direct comparison, I look at it and go "oh, that's 7173."

 

[AnubisGuard]

WA216B misted with Medium Marblehead (aka WA9924). I think we have a winner.

 

[Tripper]

That's so close!

 

[PickleRick]

I'm about to start painting a hypospray before I take the plunge into phasers and tricorders, so thank you for doing the research! Did you do a clear coat afterward, or just leave it as-is?

Also, did you try Dupli-Color BGM0347 Medium Gray Metallic? I saw another thread that said it was a match for 7173. I don't have anything in person to test it and compare against.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Did you do a clear coat afterward, or just leave it as-is?

I just left it as-is.

Also, did you try Dupli-Color BGM0347 Medium Gray Metallic? I saw another thread that said it was a match for 7173. I don't have anything in person to test it and compare against.

I hadn't heard of that one before, no. It looks awfully dark in photos, though we know how misleading those can be.

I just ordered some so we'll see how it does. I also think I found the post you did, and it mentions it as the Duplicolor version of GM 15, which as I said above I am no longer convinced was the OEM equivalent.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Also, did you try Dupli-Color BGM0347 Medium Gray Metallic? I saw another thread that said it was a match for 7173. I don't have anything in person to test it and compare against.

I just ordered some so we'll see how it does.

Verdict: eeeeehhhhhh. It's about as close as Medium Marblehead, just from the other direction – too dark instead of too light. I guess if you didn't have anything better at hand, but if you have the choice of what to order, I wouldn't recommend it.

The tricorder door on the right was painted with the WA216B/Medium Marblehead combo.

 

[PickleRick]

Thanks for testing! I'll go with the combo method then

 

[PickleRick]

The medium Marblehead I ordered came today, but the WA216B hasn’t even shipped yet. Is there anything close to that from duplicolor?