I am finally at the point in the Sender part of the project where my thinking can actually wind down for a while, but the physical activity with my hands climbs dramatically. The start of polishing down the Sender Front Panel begins.
The DOORS assembly from the upper left corner of the panel will be the starting point. A few reasons for that. First and foremost, it is a nice sized piece to work with and the original paint is solid on it. The plan is to slowly polish it back by hand until the patina on the Gloss Navy Grey hopefully falls within the range of colour tones I already have on the two restored receiver panels. That should also get it very close to matching the remains of the paint on the front panel of the Supply Unit that was refurbished back in 1966. So I am not going for a factory fresh, crisp paint. Rather, I want the look of a set that has been in service for a few years, well looked after and aging gently. That gives me the added benefit of preserving some of the look the set acquired during its 20 odd years of service life.
I have to do this polishing work upstairs in the dining room to take full advantage of the bright natural sunlight in that room. Far too many shadows to deal with trying this in a dark, artificially lit basement shop. With such a small piece, however, it will be easy to take it to compare against the two receivers to get as close to the colour tone match I am hoping to attain.
Once I have the colour tone I want on the DOORS, I can then take it up to the local RONA to have it colour matched to a litre of full gloss enamel. Since the lower inch of paint on the Supply Unit is either missing completely, or lifting very badly, and the rebuild decal work was done so badly and with the wrong coloured luminous paint, I am going to have to completely strip the paint from the Supply Unit when I get to it. Hence the need for a litre of gloss enamel that will blend with the rest of the set when all is said and done.
Also, with luck, I hope to preserve and stabilize about 95% of the original paint on the Sender front panel. It will be useful to have a touch up paint already matched for that work. The DOORS will also be used to match the polishing process of the rest of the Sender front panel.
You may notice the two Shakeproof Fasteners are still on the DOORS assembly. I cannot remove them at the moment because I have not yet been able to source a supply of the pins that fit through the shanks of the fasteners that lock them into their retainers on the Sender chassis. These are single use pins, not designed for reinstallation when pressed out of the fastener shanks. Shakeproof is still alive and well and I have contacted them about a week ago asking about the pins and possible current source. Hopefully, the inquiry will fall into the right hands and I will eventually get an answer. I am in the same position with the larger Airloc fasteners on the 52-Set, but parts for these still show up on vintage aircraft websites from time to time.
So let the games begin. I hope my fingers and knuckles are up to the challenge!
David
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