To Restore or not to Restore - how far do you go

Greetings

this is my first post so please be kind

I appear to have been bitten by the steam engine bug very badly and I am on a steep learning J curve about all things stationary steam

I've picked up a couple of old Stuart engines that I'd like to restore back to theri former beauty - to my mind steam engines held pride of place in the factories of the 1800's and were polished and fussed over to with in an inch of their lives

So the question is how far do you go and does it increase or decrease the value

The type of restoration I am thinking of would be to bring them back to the same condition as shown on the Stuart website - eg same colour etc (anyone tell me what colour that is)

Any comments gratifully recieved

Cheers

Joe

Joe,

If it's any help ... Stuart Models sell a Paint Set

The picture on their own site is very small, but here is a better one.

From the style of the cans, it may be re-branded Humbrol [or a special mix]

MichaelG.

Over the years I have made a few Stuart engines also the lathe, I painted them

all with Humbrol Brunswick Green.

Bert Ashton.

Bert,

That's a very smart colour for the lathe ... How durable is he Humbrol paint ?

MichaelG.

Michael, I built this Stuart lathe about eight years ago when Stuart first introduced

the model to the public. I painted the finished model with Humbrol Brunswick Green

gloss paint, since then the lathe has been on display in my dining room, the paint is

as new but the bright steel parts along with the cast iron bed are now tarnished.

Humbrol Brunswick Green (and Signal Red) - it's traditional!

Pretty durable. It is (or was) oil based. This is about 25 years old. Note how the original blued cleading has faded to pale straw.

Rod

I've used Humbrol Brunswick Green on a 'Gibraltar style' lathe toolpost and it's still in good nick after 10 years occasional use.

I also used it for my Stuart No. 10V and after being steamed and getting oily it has lost some of its brightness but still looks OK after about 14 years.

Neil