Painting a Gardner

[bridge100]

A friend has a Gardner in his Narrowboat

We recently serviced it,he has asked me if i would "smarten" it up for him

 

I have restored cars and motorcycles so have general knowledge of how to go about this

The main thing is the paint on it is peeling off in lumps

 

Could i have some advice on.

 

1, How to prepare the surface

2, What sort of primer

3, What is the best type of paint

3, What colour is correct

4, Where can i purchase some from

5, ANY OTHER ADVICE would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

[Athy]

Sand it down to remove any rust and to roughen the surfaces to accept the paint. Buy a can of Gardner Grey enamel from Tony Redshaw Vintage Diesels. Apply one coat - the paint goes on very smoothly (but note that you must stir it vigorously before application). No primer is needed.

Oddly enough, that is exactly what I spent part of last weekend doing to the 2LW in Trojan!

Edited June 6, 2012 by Athy

[GSer]

Oddly enough, that is exactly what I spent part of last weekend doing to the 2LW in Trojan!

 

 

Picturs please, i need to do the same on mine, it's very tatty! I'm going to degraese mine with a water soluable de-greaser, aqua clean i think it's called. I'll just use an aqua vac to clean out the bilge.

[Athy]

Sorry GSer, we are home now and, owing to preparations for the impending celbrations (of our Silver Wedding) we probably shan't be back aboard until some time in July.

Our engine wasn't really greasy so I did not need to do the deep washing bit, just wiped it over with a damp cloth after I had done the sandpapering.

[matty40s]

I did mine 3 years ago, with Redshaws paint, it was a lovely darker grey than the existing grey.

I cleaned down with sugarsoap(!!) and then water.

The only bit that has deteriorated is where I have an issue with the cylinder head, the rest looks spot on.

[Athy]

Mrs. Athy reckons that the Redshaw's paint is greenish-grey. I can almost see what she means. The original paint, applied by Walsh's after they had rebuilt the engine, was, er, a greyer grey. The Redshaw's can is labelled "Gardner Grey (Old))" so maybe it represents a colour used by Gardner's many years ago. If Tony says it's right, I believe him.

[steamraiser2]

The secret to getting a decent finish is to ensure that the engine is entirely grease free. Soluble degreasers are fine for getting most of the oil off but leave a residue that will affect paint adhesion. When we paint all of ours we clean the engine with a suitable degreaser followed by a careful wipe down with brake cleaning solvent. This works very well indeed. The usual warnings about no smoking and ventilation apply of course.(for the suicidal, safety challenged folk amongst us! ) Brake cleaning solvent is around £10-12 from any decent motor factor for 5L. Apply with a clean rag or a paint brush. Put it on,wipe it straight off. Ensure that it is all dry before applying paint. Prime bare metal, ensure that any loose flaky paint is removed. We get our Gardner paint from Rapid Paint in Birmingham by mail order. As to the correct shade...the world is your oyster! Later Gardners had a paint with a RAL code but most of the others are "grey to shade" What we have seen is admiralty grey (three shades at least of that) , grey grey, greeney grey, bluey grey. I won't go down the route of commenting that some of the marine Gardners are maroon, green, light blue and royal blue of course! As to a Gardner paint shade spec, except for the later RAL code, there wasn't one, no more than there is a Lister Green!

Edited June 6, 2012 by steamraiser2

[Tam & Di]

I won't go down the route of commenting that some of the marine Gardners are maroon, green, light blue and royal blue of course! As to a Gardner paint shade spec, except for the later RAL code, there wasn't one, no more than there is a Lister Green!

 

And my 6LW is white, sprayed while we had it in the workshop.

[Chris Pink]

Pissaro painted his Gardener with a much more varied palette.

[Athy]

Pissaro painted his Gardener with a much more varied palette.

 

Hoorah!

One of local 'bus fleets uses Gardner engines in all their double-deckers. A few months ago I had a look at one whilst they were carrying out a minor repair - it was painted silver. Not the original factory colour, I'd wager.

[martyn 1]

The RAL code for what is most commonly refered to as Gardner grey (Although I am yet to have a Gardner come through the workshop that shows even the smallest sign of ever being painted this shade originally!!!!) is RAL 7010.

 

And on the topic of which is the right one both Walsh's and Tony state that their grey is the correct one but the two shades do not match, and We have our paint mixed to match a new old stock 2LW we aquired years ago that was in its original paint, we were the first to open the crate and ours doesnt match the other two either so....... The choice is yours.

 

Walsh's is closer to a greyey grey

 

Ton'ys is closer to a Greeny grey

 

And ours I would say is a bluey grey

[RLWP]

<snip>

 

3, What colour is correct

 

<snip>

Thanks

 

In my experience, the answer is disappointingly usually Brunswick Green.

 

Although these days dirty black is very fashionable

 

Richard

[martyn 1]

In my experience, the answer is disappointingly usually Brunswick Green.

 

Although these days dirty black is very fashionable

 

Richard

 

For a Lister that is what most people say is the "correct" but the OP was asking about Gardners Lol. I wonder what a 2LW would look like Green?

 

 

Oh but on the topic of Lister's again it is very rare that the original paint is actually mid brunswick green I have 9 JP2's & 3's spanning from very early ones to very late ones all bar one in original paint and they are all different shades when you have them sat next to each other. and one of them from brand new was a very light blue, and another was MOD drab olive from new.

[luctor et emergo]

Wow, this is like reading a regular topic on a scale modeling website that I was involved in. What is the correct shade of Olive Drab, or better still, German WW II Dunkel Gelb, or Panzer Grau..

[onionbargee]

Sand it down to remove any rust and to roughen the surfaces to accept the paint. Buy a can of Gardner Grey enamel from Tony Redshaw Vintage Diesels. Apply one coat - the paint goes on very smoothly (but note that you must stir it vigorously before application). No primer is needed.

Oddly enough, that is exactly what I spent part of last weekend doing to the 2LW in Trojan!

 

 

 

No, order it from stationary engine parts, i use their engine enamel, and it's very, very good, and i would guess cheaper than Mr Redshaw. ( everything is cheaper than Mr Redshaw )

[micky44]

A friend has a Gardner in his Narrowboat

We recently serviced it,he has asked me if i would "smarten" it up for him

 

I have restored cars and motorcycles so have general knowledge of how to go about this

The main thing is the paint on it is peeling off in lumps

 

Could i have some advice on.

 

1, How to prepare the surface

2, What sort of primer

3, What is the best type of paint

3, What colour is correct

4, Where can i purchase some from

5, ANY OTHER ADVICE would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

ok not a gardner, but this is what i have done. sorry to repost photos. craftmaster paint, fantastic stuff, along with elbow grease.

Edited June 6, 2012 by micky44

[George94]

ok not a gardner, but this is what i have done. sorry to repost photos. craftmaster paint, fantastic stuff, along with elbow grease.

 

I'm not surprised you're proud of that; it's a great job.

 

Was it hard to get the rocker covers so shiny?

[RLWP]

Wow, this is like reading a regular topic on a scale modeling website that I was involved in. What is the correct shade of Olive Drab, or better still, German WW II Dunkel Gelb, or Panzer Grau..

 

Pah, that's nothing. So, what colour was the engine cowl on Voss's triplane then?

 

Richard

[luctor et emergo]

Pah, that's nothing. So, what colour was the engine cowl on Voss's triplane then?

 

Richard

 

that depends on what time you are depicting your model... Straight from the factory? What source was the paint? How was the paint applied? And by whom?

 

You fly boys have nothing on ground vehicles when it comes to painting... Chipping maybe....

;-o

[Grace and Favour]

Pah, that's nothing. So, what colour was the engine cowl on Voss's triplane then?

 

Richard

 

On a straw poll of 31, (yesssss - 31) on the aerodrom forum, 74.19% believed it to be Olive Green

[RLWP]

that depends on what time you are depicting your model... Straight from the factory? What source was the paint? How was the paint applied? And by whom?

 

You fly boys have nothing on ground vehicles when it comes to painting... Chipping maybe....

;-o

 

Well, as it was built on August 16th 1917, and shot down on September 23rd, I don't suppose it will have faded much. The paint I assume was applied by Voss's mechanic. I am firmly in the school that the cowl was yellow:

 

 

Info from here: http://www.fokkerdr1.com/103_17.htm

 

No idea about Gardner's I'm afraid

 

Richard

[luctor et emergo]

Ahhhh, but what shade of Olive Green? And who makes the correct, or closest match? Tamiya? Humbrol? Vallejo?

[RLWP]

On a straw poll of 31, (yesssss - 31) on the aerodrom forum, 74.19% believed it to be Olive Green

 

Did I vote in that one?

 

Richard

[luctor et emergo]

Ahh, my phone does not do that website justice, but where does it say that the cowl was painted yellow?

 

Or are you going by the shade of grey in the B&W pictures?

[RLWP]

Ahh, my phone does not do that website justice, but where does it say that the cowl was painted yellow?

 

Or are you going by the shade of grey in the B&W pictures?

 

I have only one thing to say. Panchromatic film

 

Richard

 

Old photos of railway engines and aeroplanes are deceitful in the extreme