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Hello All,
I am building an Easy Eight. I am assembling and painting the bogies. The volute springs are made of spring steel and oiled by Armortek. The only way to get paint to stick would be to clean off the oil and spray them. Then rusting would be a problem when the paint wears off from flexing. My solution is to spray them with dry lube mostly to keep them from rusting. Of course they will not be olive drab like the rest of the bogie. Anyone out there have a better idea?
Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom!

I just washed off the oil then primed and painted'em inside and out to stop rust. My M3 Lee and M4A3 springs still look fine after years of use.

Mike Conley (the one in Kentucky!)

Me as well, clean off oil with laquer thinner. Primer and paint. I painted mine with Modelmasters "gun metal" for a little contrast. But real tanks were probably "OD green everything" like Mike has done.
B

OK then that settles it I will prime and paint the springs olive drab.
Thanks for the help guys.
Tom

Deoiling them is a must. For not just paint adhesion but also to prevent them becoming dust / dirt magnets. I use paint thinner in a bucket, after a few minutes and a few swishes it does a good job getting off the oil. Then once dried off they go right into primer, followed by paint. this will mitigate any rust. If rust does appear on the surface it will be after years of running and will more than likely be mild surface rust

Surely its impossible to get paint onto the majority of the spring due to the way it is coiled?

You could dip them.

I plan to wipe the outside with thinners, prime and paint

Once dry I'll dip them in oil again to protect the inside layers, as I think water will wick up between them.

Adrain.