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DULUX TRADE KEEPS THE HORNET’S STING SHARP
Story
Long-lasting Dulux Metalshield paint has given a sharp new look to a Cornish rollercoaster. The Hornet can carry 1300 passengers an hour and has been thrilling visitors to the Flambard’s theme park in Helston since it was built in 1995. After twelve years service though, the ride’s steel structure was showing its age and it was time for a re-paint.
Paul Morris, Technical Services Manager at Flambards, says that the important thing was to have a high durability exterior coating that would look good for years to come, and he turned to Dulux Trade to find the best system.
“We have to shut the ride down to paint it, so we don’t want to be doing it very often,” he says. “Dulux Trade is the leader in this type of application, with top quality products, so we wanted a recommendation on the best system to use.”
The system that Dulux Trade recommended was one coat of Dulux Trade Metalshield Zinc Phosphate Primer – a high build, fast drying primer with excellent rust inhibiting performance – followed by two coats of Dulux Trade Metalshield Gloss. This is a quick-drying solvent-based paint, specially formulated for metal, which can be over-coated within four to six hours.
Using the Dulux Trade specification as the basis for tenders, the painting contract was awarded to Whittle Painting of Nottingham, a company recommended to Paul Morris by another theme park, Drayton Manor, where it had repainted the Shockwave rollercoaster.
“Whittles was very professional – a top class company. The ride was closed for three weeks in June for the repainting, and the job was finished in two,” he says.
Painting the 410 metres of track and 120 support pillars required 300 litres of Metalshield gloss in three colours. Plush velvet, a deep royal blue, and traffic yellow were used on the track and columns with the handrails picked out in green.
Whittle Painting used 60 foot mobile hoists to paint around a third of the work, and the rest was completed using rope access and harnesses attached to the track which the painters then walked round.
“The results are impressive”, says Paul. “The Hornet looks like a new rollercoaster now and we are really pleased with the result. If we hadn’t used high quality paint we would have to be repainting it repeatedly, but with the Dulux Trade system we don’t expect to paint it again for ten years.”
