The Katz’s Kolor Lab! Burning The Midnight Blue Oil…Paint.

You can not imagine the time and brains cells being used up trying to replicate the finish on the Blue Arabian. Can it be replicated, sure, but the fun is the entire process. How was it applied? What was the brand of paint or stain that was used. Was it paint, or an opaque stain? What went on first, grey or blue, was the white rubbed into the blue? Was it sprayed, brushed on? The Katz’s Marina gang has been finding old cans of paint and digging through documents, talking to Tommy Holmes and Frank Miklos and anyone that’s been down this trail is amazing. Do we have a conclusion yet. Kinda.

Test after test, and still testing

Even if it may have been done one way back in the day, the makeup of stains and paint is entirely different. Darn toxic deadly pollutants. The good news is that we have some original finish to copy.

This is the darker color. A stunning restoration BTW – Photo from Frank Miklos and Tommy Holmes. We stripped out the color background so the blue is true.

To add to the complexity of this special preservation, is that these blue Arabians came in THREE different shades of blue. That’s right. THREE.

Courtesy of Frank Miklos – The Katzs/ Andrews Arabian is the Mid Blue

And to add to that insanity. This was a prototype. So it changed, and was tweaked and torn down and redone! In no way is this a simple follow the standards standard restoration. Everything is a deep dig into the mind set of the R & D department where this boat was built and rebuilt. It was tested up in Michigan all summer.

This is the same boat shot  serial number QX5650  for the catalog in the lighter blue.

The good news… Is that the top of the top restorers, historians and resources are on it. It has to be 100% right. There have been countless phone calls, conference calls emails and now in person visits to Katzs Marina. We have contacted original paint manufacturers and asked for samples from back in the day.

A can of Royal Gard paint on Ebay from Graham Paint Co, who is still in business, and sent the blue color chips. But it is the wrong color. The Royal Gard color was used in the 1984 restoration we showed in previous stories.

Royal Gard Color Samples 1984, Supplied by Graham Paint and Varnish Co. NOT the right color. The blue on the left page upper right

Even hunting down the Blue paint used in the article we found from 1984. Nope, not the co. Yes, that was a dig to find the original co.  Or was it Pettit? No. according to conversations with Pettit.

The good news is that Pettit makes an ultra clear varnish. One major issue with these Blue Arabians is the yellow tint of varnish turns them green. So other clear finishes are being explored as well.

Turns out from the best of the brains here, the supplier of the paint/ stain was Boydell Bros Paint Co. But guess what? They are gone. And try and find a color chart from 1955 for a company like that? So a custom mix is being made from color samples found behind the dash and the bow pole.

We removed the background to see the true color and it matched the Med blue . The grey is what appears as white on the boat

The good news is that the bow and stern poles are original and there is a drip of the color behind the dash! That can be the sample. And turns out the original engine, which was included with the boat, that was red like many Cadillac engines was actual white. One simple scratch and WHITE.

From the Brochure. White Engine. In the standard engine set up. QX5650 was later made as a V drive.

This particular boat was used in the original Brochure and painted the lighter blue and had the traditional engine set up. Engine WHITE. By the time the boat was ready to go to the dealer, QX5650 was changed to the med Blue, and all redone to sell. And to think, this was to just pick a color. I wonder if there is a Zipper on this boat? Ahhhhhhh Stay tuned for reports on the finish, being finished.

QX5650 was the boat used in the famous post card seen all around.

Dane Anderson even found an alternative shot from the post card of QX5650. What the heck? Finding out takes? That takes the cake.