After well over two decades in action, PPG’s International Colour Matching Competition is still putting the focus on the skill of colour matching and the latest running is another reason to celebrate. It started with preliminary competitions which gave apprentices across the region the opportunity sharpen their colour matching skills and put them to the test against their peers. At the end of October, the nine finalists (one winner from each Australian state and territory competition, as well as New Zealand) gathered at Kangan Institute’s Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE), in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct to battle it out for the coveted trophy.
According to PPG National Colour Auditor, Manny Grillo, the colours chosen for the final were a balance between being challenging enough for a competition final without being too difficult for these young tradespeople. Both the solid COB colour and the metallic colour were based on the modern greys which are coming into vogue with vehicle OEMs. Using the region’s most popular refinish paint system, PPG’s ENVIROBASE
® High Performance waterborne basecoat, the competition kicked off with a 60-minute timeframe in which to match the COB solid colour. After a break, contestants received a further 60 minutes to match the metallic colour.
The organising team went to great lengths to ensure individual skills were the deciding factor. For example, each finalist was provided with an identical workstation, including all equipment and tinters necessary to match the colours, including a spray-out card of the off-tinted starting colour and another ‘master colour’ spray-out card as a final colour sample. In addition, judging was done ‘blind’, thanks to final spray-out cards that are numbered, not named.
After the pressure of competition, the group wound down with a fascinating ‘introduction to airbrushing’ session from region wide airbrushing school, Airbrush Venturi, giving them a chance to swap the spray gun for an airbrush. That evening, at the presentation dinner, in was Western Australian third-year apprentice, Jarrah Moon, who was announced as the 2019 winner of the prestigious event.
“I thought I did okay in the competition but not brilliant so I was actually surprised when they read out my name. I knew my first colour was pretty good tonal-wise but it was a tiny bit too red. I was not as confident with the metallic colour because the face was looking coarse and dirty but the flip angle was pretty good. I ended up doing alright, I guess!”
2019 results
1st place – WA – Jarrah Moon – South Metropolitan TAFE
iPad Air, a MIRKA DEROS sander and a SATA Vision 5000 hood
2nd place – NT – Aidan Bail – Charles Darwin University
Nintendo Switch with Super Smash Bros Ultimate game and a MIRKA DEROS sander
3rd place – NSW – Maxine Colligan – TAFE NSW Campbelltown
Ultimate Ears Bluetooth Speaker and a MIRKA DEROS sander
Finalists (alphabetic order)
VIC – Daniel Chandler – GO TAFE Wangaratta
SA – Lachlan Moseley – MTA SA
NZ – Jesse Pieterse
ACT – Blake Snow – Canberra Institute of Technology
QLD – Noah Tamala
TAS – Damien Wing – TAFE TAS
For winning their way to the final, contestants received a SATAjet X 5500 spray gun. All finalists also received a PPG gift bag of goodies.