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Let's hear it for Humbrol Enamels!


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Some 40 years ago I set about restoring the globe badge on the 4A bonnet, which had faded very badly. I acquired 'tinlets' of Humbrol Enamel in the closest blue and red shades I could find and carefully retouched the badge. I can report that the colours remain as bright as the day I did the job (see picture taken today). These enamels clearly had outstanding resistance to short wavelength solar radiation and I recommend them to anyone with a faded badge, this must be attractive versus the cost of a repro item with dubious longevity.

Tim

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Unfortunately the paint is no longer the same, Tim.  Some of the materials formerly used are no longer permitted to be sold to the public under REACH regulations. 

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5 minutes ago, RobH said:

Unfortunately the paint is no longer the same, Tim.  Some of the materials formerly used are no longer permitted to be sold to the public under REACH regulations. 

As with a lot of paints and other types of materials that used to "Work" but no longer do.

Stuart.

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1 minute ago, james christie said:

Yes and the bu99er is that they have the same name and labels just to confuse folk like me!

james

Also nine times out of ten the name has been sold on several times since you last used it too.

Stuart

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Back to the early 1960's Andy?    I first used it in 1963 - to paint a bike frame. 

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Ah yes Mamod. I still have a small meths fired steam engine which could do with some restoration. It must be as old as my TR.

In its time it drove a lot of meccano creations. It replaced an earlier one on which I had screwed down the pressure relief valve, the boiler burst and destroyed my Grannie’s chandelier. My pocket money was stopped for many weeks.:angry:

james

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If I am after larger tins/quantities I use Paragon Paints. Vast colour range and brilliant brushing quality 

They also do a range of workshop machinery original manufacturer’s colours.

https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/home.php

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Yes Harvey - I had one, a Jetex 35 I think it was.  Worked quite well I seem to recall, mounted on a free-flight glider. Just enough burn time to get some height then glide back down. 

jtx.jpg.3215a387b5045b42d162df6d77ceb389.jpg

 

Edited by RobH
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I associate the smell of Humbrol paints with the taste of blood (sucked from a finger after one of many lacerations with an X-Acto knife).

Nigel

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My boyhood days were largely permeated with the smells of styrene glue, balsa cement and cellulose dope.  Oh  - and meths from the burner in my toy steam engine.  Later on ether and castor oil from model diesel engine fuel was added to the mix.  It's a wonder I never asphyxiated really.  ;)

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17 hours ago, RobH said:

Yes Harvey - I had one, a Jetex 35 I think it was.  Worked quite well I seem to recall, mounted on a free-flight glider. Just enough burn time to get some height then glide back down. 

jtx.jpg.3215a387b5045b42d162df6d77ceb389.jpg

 

Yes they were great fun, I had that one and the larger version that took two solid fuel tablets for greater duration. Strapped them to all sorts of things from cars to boats to planes to rockets. The motors appear occasionally but no fuel pellets or fuse wire.

Stuart.

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1 hour ago, stuart said:

The motors appear occasionally but no fuel pellets or fuse wire.

Take a look here:

https://www.jetex.org/

I last looked at it in full a couple of years ago, and I got the impression that someone was making the fuel pellets again.

I remember using Jetex fuse to set off things that went “BANG!”.
I find it amusing that these days you can end up in prison if you are found Googling how to make things that go bang, using household chemicals, yet in 1962 all you had to do was ask any school kid.

Charlie.

Edited by Charlie D
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Talking of things going BANG Can you still get "caps" used to be on a reel of paper you put the reel into a toy pistol or rifle, and when you pulled the trigger the gun's hammer would hit the dark spot on the rell & it would detonate. Then the reel would automatically advance to the next unused dot.

You could also get singles which were used in "spud guns" these fires a small pellet of potato, what fun.

Bob

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How about those plastic bomb- shaped things which were supposed to take caps but worked better with red-top matches? 

Back in the late 50's in Spain you could buy things called 'bombitas' which were a small screw of tissue paper containing (I think) black powder and some grit.  When thrown with force against a hard surface they made a very satisfyingly-loud  crack. 

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