Paint for gate and railings

[ElectronicFur]

Our gates and railings are in dire need of repainting.

Is something like Hammerite direct to rust metal paint ok, or something else?

I'm actually asking now as our brass house sign fell off as a screw snapped, so needs some paint touch up round the screw hole, but figured might as well buy the right paint to do the gates and railings as well.

[Feltwell]

Hammerite smooth is as good on metal as any I think. Guttering I last did 12 years ago is just about at the "needs re-doing" stage now.

As ever, preparation is the key to longevity.

There are some epoxy 2-pack coatings that classic car guys use that are almost indestructible, but they need total rust removal and lots of prep.

[a twig]

Rustoleum - had much better results from them than hammerite etc.

They do a rust converter primer then various options available for top coats, all available as rattle cans or brush

EDIT: They've rebranded everything, the combi colour range for top coat, and the Rust-Oleum Grey Anti-Rust Primer Corrosion Hard Hat to prime

[CliffordPope]

Anything as long as it's not silver!

[ElectronicFur]

Anything as long as it's not silver!

You'll be glad to hear the previous owners painted them green with the tips painted gold

But as I cut some of the hedges away, some of the railings underneath were still black, but flaking off and rusty, as it appears they have been covered by hedging overgrowth since at least 1985

[Feltwell]

You'll be glad to hear the previous owners painted them green with the tips painted gold

Nice!

There's a house not too far from me where the new owners are going a bit mad with the gold paint - and let's just say that their enthusiasm is far greater than their painting skills - by'eck it looks a *right* mess, my kids could do better. Luckily it's far enough away that I don't have to look at it very often!

[CliffordPope]

Rule of thumb - don't use gold on anything smaller than Buckingham Palace.

[philpjuk100]

Built a fence last year, I painted it all with red primer (Wilco) and then painted all the above ground with Smoothright and then realised that they look better rusty!

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[philpjuk100]

My inspiration,-rusty!

[Calum]

My inspiration,-rusty!

A Nimbus... very nice!

[Feltwell]

My inspiration,-rusty!

A Nimbus... very nice!

I'm glad you said that, because I was staring at it and struggling! I couldn't make out the badge but I could see it was shaft drive, which rules out most (but not all) British bikes. It didn't appear to be those that are left either though - I could only think of Sunbeam, Velocette or Peerless with shaft drives. It clearly wasn't a BMW. Your knowledge is better than mine, I'd very vaguely heard of Nimbus but had no idea who they were or where they were from. Wikipedia has now educated me!

Nice bike Phil, but if spares have to come from Denmark I bet they cost you a bit!

[philpjuk100]

nimbus gdn.jpg (81.67 KiB) Viewed 220 times

aa nimb.JPG (142.8 KiB) Viewed 220 times

1937 750cc 4, I have a couple now and have owned others in the past but now sold, Any spares I need I make (I have a lathe ) but believe most parts are available in Denmark.I imported my first one in 1973 through Parkeston docks it cost me £19 import duty, £19 shipping with DFDS, and £19 to buy it from a scrapyard!. I notice a four speed gearbox conversion is now available ( standard is three speed ) but costs a lot of money and three speeds seem plenty!

[Calum]

I've always found them interesting - I like a lot of makers that went against the norm. Inline 4 in a strip steel frame must have turned some heads when they first appeared over here, especially as early as they did! Having said that my bike is very 'of the norm' - a Small Heath built OHV single...

A chap local to me has a Nimbus but it threw a rod through the crankcase a couple of years back and he hasn't done anything with it since - crying shame as I think they are great!

[philpjuk100]

Built in Copenhagen by Neilson and Fisker who still make the Nilfisk vacuum cleaners, They built the model "C" Bumblebee" from 1935 to 1959, the design hardly changed over the years, and parts from all years were interchangeable, they never exported any but they were used by the Danish army and all the service industries, post office, electricity supply, they even had a sidecar ambulance!.In the 60s and 70s they could be bought for very little from scrapyards in Essberg and shipping was cheap but customs could be tricky.