What Paint Colours To Use On Mamod Steam Engines

When it comes to restoring Mamod steam engines, restorers will usually have to repaint the different parts of the engine due to rust and generally wear and tear causing the paintwork to look tatty. However, the problem with repainting Mamod parts is that nobody really knows exactly what paint codes are for what parts. Well, from restoring Mamod engines myself, I have formulated a page that will hopefully make clear what colours are for what Mamod parts.


Mamod Stationary

The Mamod stationary engines have three distinct main colours being red, green and black (with SP models having grey and blue too). 
  • [For painting flywheel and base] For red, use Ford Rosso red - You will need to paint the base and flywheel with this red. However, I have found normal red metal paint to be just as good. The trick is that if you paint all red parts with the same red, nobody can notice the difference in shades. Most of my engines are painted with normal red enamel paint found in DIY stores for around £9.
  • [For painting firebox] For black, use black heat resistant satin paint - What you need to bare in mind is the firebox will undergo high temperatures. Therefore never use paint that is not heat resistant on the firebox because it will simply overheat and bubble away. Older engines tend to have glossy finishes. However, most Mamod SE models have a satin finish.
  • [For painting engine bracket] For green, use Ford Highland green - I tend to use Ford Highland green for painting the engine bracket. However, you could also use Apple green, Emerald green or British Racing green. If you want a perfect finish similar to that Mamod produced, use hammerite paint.
  • [For SP range engine bracket] For blue, use a dark blue paint - When it comes to repainting a SP model, I'm not too fussed what shade blue you should use: just make sure it is a dark blue. When I restored an Mamod SP4, I actually used Ford Highland green because I thought the engine looked better with green rather than blue. The same can be applied to the grey under the engine bracket: this time, make sure it is matte. 

Here, I have used the Ford Highland green, satin black heat resistant and factory stock red paint on this Mamod SE1.

Mamod Traction

There are lots of different engines out there that Mamod made which have all different colour schemes. The main points to pick out is that:
  • All colours above are the same for traction engines except the green that should be Apple green only (make sure it is heat resistant too).
  • If you are repainting the all black traction engine, make sure the black is matte and not satin.
  • The wheels colour (being red or yellow) can be factory stock colours.
Mamod TE1as Traction Engine before

Mamod TE1a Traction Engine after - notice the similarities in colours.

I hope this helps people restore engines like me. Remember the rules of painting parts by looking at this article here.