The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

This past weekend I completed painting the orange parts for my '59 Dexta. My golden retriever, Gracie, had patiently waited for things to be done. When I wasn't getting the hint, she picked up her tennis ball and took over my masking paper:



I also finished the ugly task of scraping lots of hardened grease and oil from the wheel weights, and decided to paint them an almond color:



Having spent over 30 years in the design and crafting of furniture, I've learned quite a bit about finishing. But, I learned a new trick this week. It is possible to mix lacquer thinner with acrylic enamels and hardeners (instead of the usual mineral spirits). By doing this, the paint dries much faster - even in cold and damp weather. I use a 7 parts paint/3 parts lacquer thinner/1 part hardener mixture with good results:



It's coming together, slowly but surely.

Don

Don,

ddoan wrote:I also finished the ugly task of scraping lots of hardened grease and oil from the wheel weights, and decided to paint them an almond color:

Those weights look heavy! how much do they weigh?

ddoan wrote:I use a 7 parts paint/3 parts lacquer thinner/1 part hardener mixture with good results:

What paint are you using?

Nice work. Look forward to seeing more pics
All the best

If you want to get oil/grease off use some diesel on a paintbrush. The oil etc will just drop off. Then after you are done you can set fire to it No wait, that's not such a great idea But yeah diesel works a treat.

Ian,

Yes, I have used diesel fuel, also. It does work well for softening grease and oil. The stuff on my tractor, however, was more like asphalt. Hard as a brick and lots of it. Ultimately, I found that my paint stripper, Jasco Paint and Epoxy Remover actually worked better than anything. I do keep a 5 gallon pail of diesel fuel handy for soaking small parts in for a day or so before cleaning. I haven't tried lighting up the parts, yet! Sounds like it might be effective.

Ben,

I don't know exactly how much the wheel weights weigh. I'm guessing that they are 600 lbs. plus. I don't dare let them fall over - I'd never be able to get them upright again. There are more pictures of the weights in my Dexta Restoration Albums:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tractorNstuff

For paint, I've used mostly acrylic enamels with hardeners as top coats, over the primer coat. Various brands: Rustoleum, Valspar, and some custom makes. For the money, Rustoleum's hard to beat. For my N-Series tractors, I buy my paint from a company in Indiana, USA, called N-Complete. I wish they offered Dexta colors. Maybe I can talk them into it!

Don

ddoan wrote:For paint, I've used mostly acrylic enamels with hardeners as top coats, over the primer coat. Various brands: Rustoleum, Valspar, and some custom makes. For the money, Rustoleum's hard to beat. For my N-Series tractors, I buy my paint from a company in Indiana, USA, called N-Complete. I wish they offered Dexta colors. Maybe I can talk them into it!

Don,
How would the acrylic paint you've been using compare with New Holland Q-Coat, which alot of us use over here and is I believe alkyd based (I'm not sure what that is?)
All the best,

Very Nice pics of your restorations

Don,
You did some fine work on your tractors.
I'm kind of curious as to why you didn't steam off all the dirt and grime off your Dexta restoration before you started taking it apart?
Looks like you have a nice area to work in with plenty of room.
Liked the chest and table work too!