Saving Old Seagulls

I've decided to paint my Seagull while it's clean, dry and free from oil.

I wonder what black gloss spray paint is best for the tank... needs to be very fuel/oil resistant I guess.

What about that gold/bronze finish to the flywheel? Has anyone found a car paint colour that is just right?

Finally the gearbox and prop. I have cleaned off the old worn/chipped paint back to alloy and wonder what shade of silver car paint will do? I really want an old dull look rather than silver chrome. Also do folks bother with an alloy primer or just spray the silver straight on top.

David

Why dont you just polish the aluminium?

Actually in preparing to paint the gearbox and prop they have come up really well looking near polished already.

I assumed they were painted to stop corrosion?? Most seem to be that dull silver/grey.... or is it that everyone has painted them by now and they were bare alloy from new?

David

Bare alloy on early ones - exact date isn't to hand. Early forties were polished, too.

The ones that were painted were not polished first, so it's fairly easy to tell.

Painted finish - Hammerite Smooth Silver is very close indeed to the original. Hammerite hammered silver is very close to those few silver painted flywheels in the late sixties when the change to Wipac was going on.

Bought the paint now.

Gearcase & Prop: I bought alloy wheel paint as it was made to go straight onto alloy with no primer and is on the dull grey side of silver which I wanted. That's finished and looking really good.

Flywheel: Bought a Ford olympic gold (met) spraywhich is slightly less bronze than I wanted but looks fine.

Tank: Decided to try Hammerite spray smooth black because it seems to have a greater depth of gloss than normal car paints. Takes ages to dry compared with normal car sprays though.

Drive Leg: I know nothing will look or last like Chrome but I've used primer/filler to help with the pits and rubbed that away until it is only left in the pits. Then I've used Hycote chrome effect paint which I've used before and is as near chrome you will get in a paint. I know this will rub off over time but that's fine.

Exhaust Tube: Mine is alloy so I rubbed off the old paint (it had a crude silver re-paint) and blemishes with 1000 grade wet & dry. A final do with metal polish and that looks fine.

Halfway through doing it now... will try and get an online Photo account sorted so I can show some images.

Hope that might help someone else wanting to smarten their Seagull.

David

sounds like your doin a good job!
i like chrome exhausts...you can take them down to the brass!...

Thanks for that David. Time I gave some of mine a spruce up. Seems some exhausts are chromed and some are polished aluminium. Would be nice to find a decent heatproof finish for the more corroded of them. Photos would be good.

Cheers Hugo.

look forward to seeing some pics

There's only one paint for a Seagull tank as far as I'm concerned, Hammerite Smooth. Just repainted two blue steel tanks, their blue is just the right shade. Done correctly with a brush you can get a mirror finish. I paint yachts and cars with a brush, it can be done!

I use Halfords black gloss, left for around a week in a warm place, then flat with 1500 wet and dry, apply the decal and then several thin coats of Halfords petrol resistant lacquer. It then needs to be left for two weeks to harden, followed by a light T-Cut. Perfect.

looks nice worth the hard woork
i am looking at mine and thinking???????????? may be