The tractor arrived at our yard and upon first impression the tractor did not look too bad externally.
Under closer inspection you can see that the tractor has had an amateur repaint.
There are runs in the paint and the coverage particularly under mudgaurds is inconsistant.
Internally it is a familiar sight in a tractor of this era. Much of the trim is missing and what is left is brittle with no volume of wadding.
The tractor was bought into the workshop and the glass was removed entirley from the cab.
The doors, bonnet panel and roof panel were are removed so that they could be prepared thoroughly.
We began to prepare the tractor for the paintwork. The main bug bear on this particular project were what seemed like endless layers of paint that had to be taken back.
It had previously been painted in a synthetic paint, making sanding even harder due to the oily consistency. In the majority of cases we now prepare by hand as shot blasting can be quite harsh to the seals.
Again our preparation work includes the removal of rust, reworking areas of corrosion, rectification of dents, abrade all surfaces in readiness for the primer.
Once the preparation was completed, the tractor and its panels were primed inside and out.
It must not be under estimated the size sheer size of this project. The cab is very high and has to be done from ladders and constructed platforms.
The under sides of the tractor chassis itself and beneath the wings etc, call for double joint limbs but patience and accuracy will do the trick!
The art in a large project like this is achieving an even coverage.
It has to be a well though out plan where to start, and in which direction and where you finish.
Spraying fresh paint adjacent to an already drying panel can easily lead to overspray, runs and even reactions.
The mixing of the paint has to be 100% acurate as this big project will need several lots all with identical consistancy and covering properties.
The Interior had also been prepped and primed in exactly the same way
The paint was sourced the MF red being widely available or easily matched but the metallic paint that was used on the engine of these tractors was a little harder. The original colour had been over painted at the time of the previous respray so we were not confident that this would be an acurate colour to copy. But then after a bit of scrambling abour underneath the tractor we found some of the original paint on a sheltered, unweathered component so we had our match!
The top coat was meticulously applied so that all those tricky areas were evenly covered.
The job was left to dry.
All the components were then reassembled bit by bit ensuring that doors were correctly aligned and windows opened correctly.
The trim was cut to pattern and fitted into the cab.
THE FINISHED RESULTS
We were very proud of our restoration team as much of this project has been done through a very warm period of weather which benefited the quality of the paintwork but left the boys looking as though they had been wrung out!!!
We were very proud of our restoration team as much of this project has been done through a very warm period of weather which benefited the quality of the paintwork but left the boys looking as though they had been wrung out!!!
