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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Hayter Paint colour

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Hi there.

Does anyone have to hand the paint colour. number for the 1960s Hayter 24 hand propelled rotary mower?  I am looking for the paint for the green part of the chassis frame etc, could it be a Hammerite product?  or a special mix.

Many thanks

Forums

Aled Sat, 22/10/2011

To be honest I'd avoid the use of hammerite, it's not very good paint (it's water based!) and only comes in limited colours. What I would recommend is you take the mower or a part of the mower with that paint on to a car parts shop which do specially mixed paint. For health and safety reasons I'd go with acrylic based paint if I were you although if you're spraying and have all the safety equipment Cellulose based paint would be nice to go with.

hillsider Sat, 22/10/2011

Hello,

From my memory of the paint finish used on Hayterettes etc I think that Hammerite or something very similar was probably the paint used. Maybe an email to Hayters customer service department would bring forth an answer? 

Ray. 

hortiman Wed, 09/11/2011

Following my request for paint information, it was found to be Hammerite jade green hammered finish paint.

I have now given it a couple of coats but the photo does not pick out the green very well, but at least it looks better and is now in preservation and not on the scrapheap.

Hortiman

hillsider Wed, 09/11/2011

Good to see that you had a positive result with the paint for your Hayter. I would think that not too many have made it into restoration as I think they were often used on farms etc rather than leading a sheltered life in a domestic environment and have been scrapped long ago.

Your machine is looking good - how about looking out for a 21" self propelled to go with it? At least the paint would be easier to match! the ones that I remember were mostly yellow with Briggs and Stratton engines.

Ray.

 

marktheherald Sun, 23/06/2013

I am now in the same paint position on the same machine.

 I can't however find any trace of green paint in any unexposed place, it's all grey. This backs up my memory of both of my late mothers machines, (one early round front and then a later square front).

 I have contacted Hayters and they are unable to confirm the paint finish, except to say that their tractor drawn orchard mower was grey. It would make sense to use the same colour on their earlier pedestrian machines?

 So I have gone for a grey frame, the side panels will match what I have found on them:- hammered siver/grey, the new top panels will be grey to match the frame. All the ancilliaries will be red.

 Pictures when done.....     Mark. 

wristpin Sun, 23/06/2013

What we used to call Old Hayter Green was code RAL6025 and was the colour used on domestic machines up until about 2000 when they switched to the current dark green.. But I remember seeing some very old Hayterettes (the ones where one had to adjust the height by loosening  off each wheel and slide it up and down notched slots) that were finished an a more metallic green than Old Hayter and Hammerite definitely used to make a very similar colour.

wristpin Sun, 23/06/2013

Yes, old 21s were yellow before changing to "Old Hayter Green" (RAL6025) and finally the current dark green before being killed off by the cost of re-engineering a fairly low volume machine to meet the operator presence (OPC) requirements. As far as I can remember the Osprey (an 8hp 26" upgrade from the 5hp 21", 21) was always Old Hayter Green before switching to the current dark green - can't remember ever seeing a yellow one.

Going back to the pneumatic tyred push 24s and 26s I think that they were of angle iron chassis construction with mainly aluminium sheet "bodywork" and were certainly predominantly grey. Some even had wood block mounts to raise the engine enough for a working belt run! In the post war years there was plenty of aluminium "left over" from aircraft production but there was a shortage of (rationed) steel. It was said that Hayters initial production used angle iron from Government Surplus bed frames!

marktheherald Mon, 24/06/2013

I can confirm that the side panels on my 24" are aluminium, the top panels are steel. However, the front and rear swinging guards are missing and I will have to make new ones. Question, should they be steel or aluminium? And what guage?

 Any info gratefully received...

 Mark.

hillsider Mon, 24/06/2013

I can confirm from memory that the Hayter orchard mowers and the early pedestrian mowers were indeed mostly grey with red for the engines and possibly the wheels.  The grey was very similar to Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh Grey but cannot be certain on that as there was also an earlier slightly lighter grey that was used on the Ferguson TE range of tractors.  Ray

hortimech Mon, 24/06/2013

Only the 24's were push machines, the 26's were either roller-propelled or had 2 cleated tyres and again was self-propelled, they were fitted with an albion 3 speed gearbox and a kick starter.  The 26 was a much heavier built machine than the 24 and was built mostly from steel, the notable exception being the flaps which were made from duralinium not aluminium.

 

marktheherald Mon, 24/06/2013

Ok, don't think I'll find Duralinium, so heavy guage aluminium maybe?