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Old 17-08-20, 18:04
David Dunlop David Dunlop is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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For a number of weeks now, I have been hesitant about starting the clean up of the Sender front panel. This centres primarily on the lifted paint. It basically consists of two forms of lifting: some has lifted and stayed flat, other bits have lifted with a curl. The attached photos illustrate some of the latter.

Flat lifted paint is relatively easy to deal with as it is generally fairly tolerant of pressure being carefully applied to it, as will happen with cleaning and polishing, and it can be reattached to the metal panel plate with a little Crazy Glue being wicked under an edge. Some bits you can clean first, others may need to be reattached first, but the process is fairly straightforward, though slow.

By comparison, lifted paint that has curled is a nightmare. It can be snagged by almost anything and get torn loose with no guarantee at all about how large a piece will break free. With no support under the lift, any downward pressure will snap it free with the same unknown result. You can get glue under it easily enough to support it for cleaning and polishing, but you must be prepared for the fact these imperfections will then be permanently visible on the panel.

I had initially thought of using a heat gun to soften the paint gently in order for it to relax enough to be pressed back in place and be allowed to cool flat enough for the Crazy Glue treatment. I am still confident the concept would work on a panel that was a simple, painted surface. The big negative on this Sender panel, however, is the large number of original decals still present and in close proximity to most of the curled paint bits.

I have absolutely no clue what type, or thickness, of clear substrate was used for these 75-year-old decals. Same goes for the glue used on them and the whole process of bonding decal paints, luminous paint pads and paints. The odds are extremely high they all have different expansion and contraction characteristics under a high heat load and with that many unknowns at hand, I am going to forgo the use of the heat gun.

After studying the paint for some time now, it is evident one can rank the condition of it from ‘best’ at the top of the panel to ‘worst’ at the bottom. That does not eliminate surprises from the project in the least, but logic tells me to start at the top and carefully work my way across and down, adjusting techniques and processes as I go. My fingers seem to have survived cleaning the Sender Door assembly just fine. I will just have to continue to proceed in baby steps and the first ones will start today.

David
Attached Thumbnails
WS No. 52 Sender Panel 1.JPG   WS No. 52 Sender Panel 2.JPG  
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