Saving Old Seagulls

Hi guys, just looking for some tips of cleaning dirt and oxidization off flywheel covers and brightening the aluninium without removing the words.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
Thanks & regards,
Spiro

Same principle with cover then get a fine artists paint brush..and patience..

And a small tin of black paint....

Thank you Tam, but I was referring to the scratch plate or where is says 'Best outboard in the world'.

Any ideas for that mate?

Thanks & Regards
S

Some metal polish on fine wet'n'dry paper over a flat wooden block worked well for me.

Same principle as with scripted plate if the wording is deep enough (to which yours looks deep) a general wipe down with petrol (decrease) then spray it all black stick it on the bench wheel and use the finest of emery and the black paint comes of leaving the wording .sorted

Looking back at yours I'd decrease it stick on the bench wheel and use autosol or even brasso as your wording looks fine..just the ally around it...

Thanks guys, the wording is actually very shallow.

All I've done so far is give it a degrease and wash in warm water. This has revealed pitting deeper than the wording, so little chance of a perfect finish. Might try the auto-sol as i have some of that hand.

Thanks again & regards,
Spiro

fleetingcontact wrote:Some metal polish on fine wet'n'dry paper over a flat wooden block worked well for me.

I'd love to see a pic if that's possible please.

Problem where I am is salt water. Most of the outboards i buy will be affected by corrosion, some more than others of-course.

Regards,
S

Hi AusAnzani, better late than never.

The original cover I referred to was sold with another motor so here's another one I whipped up over the last few days which will be part of an AD. Eventually. It was at least as nasty as yours, heavily oxidised with no paint remaining in the lettering - very manky.

The first step was a scrub with abrasive paper backed onto a wooden pad. I used WD40 to lubricate the paper, then did a second pass with metal polish.

Next I masked up the areas I didn't want paint on because all I had to hand was a tin of car paint. This was a bit approximate, just so when I sprayed paint it didn't go absolutely all over it.

After the paint had a chance to go off I went over it again with abrasive paper and polish just to take off any paint from the surface but leave it in the lettering.

I tested the notion that putting it to the buffer wheel would not affect the lettering. Some paint came off notably at the ends of the arrow, and it also took the gloss off, but for the most part as you can see it worked ok.

Flash photography really brings out all the imperfections in the metal - all the pitting shows up very well! However it looks much better to the eye than in the picture, although I'm sure things could be improved with a bit more effort. Wish I'd taken a 'before' photo though. Ah well.

In hindsight:

• I expect enamel paint of the sort used by Airfix kit modellers would be better than spray paint.
• Polish the surface to the desired finish first - it makes the removal of excess paint much easier.
• In an ideal world use brake cleaner to degrease, especially if you have used wax polish on your buffing wheel.
• If you are not using spray paint, a toothpick is an easier tool than a brush.
• Perhaps another method might be to put some paint into a sponge and swab it across the lettering.
• It may be possible to use a razor blade to effectively remove excess.

If you make a complete muck of it and want to start again use thinners to remove any paint easily, even after it has dried. There's not much at risk here.

I have a twice real size steel pattern (in the world) for use with a pantograph engraver & some blank 16 gauge laser cut aluminium discs ready for engraving if anyone has access to a pantograph for a couple of days.

Right here in my back pocket

Your pockets must be much bigger than mine!

fleetingcontact wrote:Hi AusAnzani, better late than never.

Thanks you, that's awesome.

I guess the in print on some covers may be deeper than it is on others. Its very shallow on this one, that's why I'm reluctant to have a go.

Thanks again & regards,
Spiro