I've got 3 Red Tips, 56, 57,and 58. All three are different colors on the bare metal parts. The 56 looks almost like it's plated, the other 2 just look like brushed metal. I've tried to polish the 57 and 58 to make it shine like the 56 but it just doesn't have that shine. I was wondering if they were made of different metal or if some of them were plated instead of just bare metal. The red tips are all the same. Thanks for any info.
I've noticed on some Red Tips the plating does seem darker, like gunmetal, than others. The razors are plated brass and maybe different batches of nickel plating were different in hue. If you want a quick fix on the color, look for a nail polish red to match it. I have a craft paint that's really a very close match. The following link explains how I did it.......... Gillette Red Tip Color, My Way
The plating being a different mix was my thought as well. So far I've been lucky on the red parts. I've only got one that needed a couple of spots of red and I used model paint. The spots were so small that I don't think the color of red really mattered. The last one I bought has a tiny little spot that came off but it wasn't on the end where it was set down a lot. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure it's been used very much at all. It was too cheap to pass up and I got a Gem Micromatic with it.
Nickel tarnishes and turns a darker and darker gray. It can be difficult to polish back to a bright finish and may even start brassing before you get there. RedTip's from those years would have looked almost identical when they were new. They're just tarnished at a different rate due to the conditions they were stored under and how much use they have had.
