Evening all,
I've looked on t'internet with regards to cylinder paint colour (for red cylinders) and the consensus seems to be signal red or post office red.
so I bought some post office red and sprayed up the cylinder from a mk5 Ajax. It's a very 'modern' looking colour, bright red, almost a bit orangey. Like you would see on a new mower.
can anyone recommend a red more suited to a vintage mower? I've got an ajax mk2 to do and want something a bit more subtle.
does anyone know what the original colour was?
thanks
will
In no particular order -
Central Spares sell “ Bright Cylinder Red”. At one time we used to buy Pillar Box Red and Ransomes used to use an orangey red.
Early Suffolks had green painted cylinders , Honda and maybe Masport cylinder mowers , black .
Thanks Angus, maybe I'll stick with what I have then, perhaps will dull down with a bit of time and use
Will
I bought a gallon each of John Deere green and a red I forget the name of from Pearl paints many decades ago, both lasted me many years, I used to perch the drying cylinders atop my pillar drill, which left many green and red marks, until I got broken into and drill was taken.
Regarding Ajax cutting cylinders, having had many pass through not all had red cylinders, certainly I have seen several mk3's with green, also the Atlas I think was often green, and possibly Cubs & Lioness?. Would be an interesting exercise to pull in info from members with machines in 'original' condition to establish if there was a period or mk's when green was used? (how about a member volunteering to do this?) Only have 2 mk5's around at present both red, weighed in half a dozen Ajax's last week, with hindsight should have noted the colour! Several Ajax boxes saved as I know always in demand.
Thanks for responses.
my mk5 Ajax is in very original condition and the cylinder was red same as yours Clive.
my mk2 has had paint at some point so I don't know on that one...
Will
I cant help wondering how many Ajax have never been re- ground%? I would suggest very few; in which case, it was standard practice to repaint the cylinder - with whatever shade of red that business used. Original paint may be more imagined than fact.