As many of you are aware I really hate the new matt paints as they do not correctly bond to the primer underneath and are far from durable. After yet another matt paint issue I contacted the supplier who were tradepaints UK (based in Essex)their man to contact is Barry Shaw whose email is barry@tradepaintsuk.co.uk or you can phone him on 08458382225 who COULD be persuaded to get the licence to keep lead chromate on his premises, but it would need loads of people to contact him either by phone or email to persuade him it is a viable proposition, basically you use the lever that he will be supplying a uniqe product as no other paint manufacturer wants to pay for a licence to keep the chromate and is not willing to take the gamble, so he is basically granted exclusive rights to sell the stuff as he will be the only one supplying a lead based green paint on a commercial basis.
Red lead is quite readily available through a lot of paint suppliers (not to be confused with red oxide paints which use a zinc oxide base) but not one of the manufacturers I have spoken to are willing to pay for the licence to keep lead chromate which is used in production of green lead based paints.
You may not be aware that you can legally (in the UK ) still buy lead based paint products as long as your vehicle is pre 1978 (this applies to any other contemporary paint for your vehicles including cellulose) To purchase the paint you need to go to English Heritage's website and type in leaded paint in the search box and if you browse around you will find a downloadable form to hand to your paint supplier (basically it is just to give English heritage some idea of the quantities and amounts of older paints being used) But in reality the paint supplier rarely asks for one so the only problem is finding someone who will manufacture it!
Lead based paints are not a problem to use as they can be sprayed (with the correct mask etc I used to spray them quite a lot with the minimum protection and I certainly haven't suffered any adverse effects meoow baah mooo !) And as for brush painting this is easily done and it is a pleasure to use. All the health scares with regards to lead paints are just created by people who were assigned to legislate on health and safety and is more of a scare than a reality, yes, if you suck on the end of your lead painted handlebar every day you may suffer, but it presents no safety issue when the paint is in good condition, and only is really harmful by inhalation when you are sanding it off, but dosen't really present an issue if you wear the apprpriate masks and wash your hands after stripping it.
To anyone who hasn't used lead based paints, they actually adhere to the metal or primer and have excellent scuff resistance as scuffs usually show up as almost just a "pencil" line and can be removed with an oily rag and it is the only matt paint product that was designed to be a matt paint, in 1978 they stopped lead based paints, obviously because of people needing good paints to paint their window sills and cars the gloss paint had to move on and has actually gone better than the original lead based glosses, but not so with the matt finishes which were used a lot less, so the paint technology never really moved on and basically the attitude to a request for matt paints was to just put a bit of matting agent into whatever type of gloss you used which was usually detrimental to the durability of the paint. I do a lot of spraying on war bikes for people and have tried nearly everyones version of matt paint and every one of them I found inferior and in some instances "complete and utter crap" that you could pick off with your fingernail.
I think with enough persuasion Barry could sort out the lead based paint issue, as most of the manufacturers answers were to say a definate "NO" but Barry seemed open to the idea, so I'd like as many of you as you can ring or email him, tell your friends with larger military vehicles and get them to pester him, even try to get other clubs including members in the MVT to do the same. At the end of the day it was the original finish for your motorcycle! I'm asking you even if you don't need paint just yet or have recently repainted your bike, to contact him as at some point you may want to do a repaint or if you acquire another bike you will probably want some at some point. What I'm actually trying to do is convince him that there is a real need for a good quality matt paint. Even if you are from abroad I'm sure that some one on this forum could carry the paint over to you, I'm just trying to get the paint made available. If you contact him can you please let me know through this post just to see how much interest we can drum up to try and get this sorted
Rant over!!!
email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com
What I didn't make too clear was that you don't have to order any paint or sign up to buy any, just make a request as to if he makes it or show an interest in buying some in the future.
email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com
Dave, if it could in any way be possible to obtain a paint that is resistant to modern fuels and well matched to Khaki Green No.3 then I am a definite customer. I wouldn't however be in the market for a generic matt NATO Green or British Olive Drab.
The so-called isocyanate-free 2k that I obtained from The Vintage Paint Company is not only too shiny and washed away by fuel, it softens in contact with modern electrical cable. I assume that residual plasticisers are the problem.
My father painted my first bedroom with lead-based paint (McPherson's, I believe) and any suggestion that this could remotely be related to my poor memory and multiple personality disorders will be most strongly contested.
Any shade of green can be mixed with the lead chromate, it would just be a case of sending him a sample colour, or giving him a RAL or BS number and I presume he has the mixing chart for these. Can you just try emailing him to ask him if he makes it (knowing full well he dosen't...yet!) and if he dosen't, would he consider making the lead based paint, and would you add that you know lots of people that would buy some if he made it
email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com
Dave, I'm slightly under the influence of the Laphroaig Quarter Cask this evening but headaches permitting, I'll get onto it in the morning. 
Is this saying that the synthetic paint from Jeeparts isn't any good either..? I thought people were happy with it?
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Hi, it is ok (one of the better paints) but not as durable as the real deal, the main issue is when you scuff it, it chips whereas with lead paint it appears as a "pencil" line that you can simply get back by rubbing with an oily rag. basically it adheres to the base metal or prime as an original red lead would do, try remove that and it is very difficult!
email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com
Hi Dave
I have just emailed the guy to register an interest
Will let you know if I hear anything back.
Darren
email (option): dwrudd@lineone.net