Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Well, the mystery manufactured cylinder mounted on the right side chassis plate of the coil assembly is no longer a mystery. It actually serves two purposes; a guard to protect the tuning gear drive whenever the coil chassis assembly is removed and replaced from its wooden case, and as a support pedestal that allows the assembly to rest on a work bench on its right hand side for servicing. Note the last photo.


David

[David Dunlop]

I did a quick hand sanding of the top of my parts Coil case the other day to see what might turn up. This case has a very light coat of NATO Green on it and only on the exterior. I was hoping to carefully cut the paint back to see if there was any surviving evidence of the application of the C-Broad Arrow stamp. Sadly, no such luck. There were only two applications of NATO Green, but the first coat came with a sanding of the original Flat Olive Drab that would have taken off the stamp very easily. Still want to check the two sides, however.

What I did find was interesting in any event. On top of the first coat I found the remains of a yellow, 1-1/4 inch equilateral triangle. No sure if it was originally solid, or a thick outline. Also present was a yellow '83" done with a 3/4-inch stencil. This would likely all have been applied in the late 1940's or early 1950's when the NATO Green paint first came into use, but before the arrival and use of the NSN System came into effect.

I have photos of a 52-Set in Use in a wartime CMP Command truck in 1952, or 1953 in Ontario during an exercise. The cases/boxes visible in the photos show the darker NATO Green having been applied but the markings are still the original factory ones, simply bumped up to 3/4-inch stencils from the original wartime 1/2-inch. When I was refurbishing my cases/boxes, I found traces of this same 3/4-inch format stencil on the fronts of two of them. When the NSN System came into full effect, these stencils became abbreviated a great deal and a lot more cryptic. Nothing was ever applied on top of the second coat of NATO Green on the parts Coil case.

When I owned a full Canadian C 42 Ground and Training Set, several of the components had a white triangle painted on them, along with a Comm Sqdn ID like 734 or 736. I was told this was common practice when large military groups assembled in Canada for exercises in order to help ensure the equipment went back to where it belonged after the exercise was over.

Now I wonder if the yellow markings I found are an earlier version of this identification process using the wartime Regimental Numbering system in some way.


David

[David Dunlop]

A couple of days ago, I was able to get my wide, steel putty knife under the green felt pad on my parts Coil case and carefully remove the felt. Since water based animal glues would have been used to install it back in 1944, I first thought of just soaking the felt in water for an hour or two to dissolve the glue, but the thought of some of that water getting into any seams in the pine board made me a bit hesitant. I bounced the idea off my wife and she looked at me like I had three heads.

Debbie explained the odds this 1944 piece of felt was composed of pure wool were extremely high and a water soak and dry-out could very likely result in a badly shrunk, or distorted, piece of totally useless felt. Point taken wisely. Out came the putty knives.

The process went quite well. The blade of the knife moved under the felt at a shallow angle nicely and where resistance was felt, I carefully raised the angle of the blade to avoid the chance of it cutting into the felt. In a few places, the factory Flat Olive drab paint simply popped off the wood, and where it did not, you can see the patterns of where the glue had been applied, either by small brush or a squeeze bottle. See the first two photos.

Measuring felt with callipers is tricky as it wants to squish a bit, however, by eyeballing the edges against a steel ruler, and attempting the callipers several times, I think the felt is 1/16-inch thick. The basic rectangle measures six inches wide and 11.25 inches long. At the front edge, centred at the 5-5/8 inch mark, is a notch one inch wide and 1-5/8 inches deep. This has been cut out to clear the bottom centre front panel mounting bracket when it is installed, and the small hole directly behind it where the front mounting screw for securing the coil chassis assembly to the case is located. two half inch diameter holes are punched along the centreline of the length of the felt. On the left side, this hole is centred 1-5/8 inch in from the end of the felt. On the right side, the hole is centred 2-5/8 inches in from the end. These holes allow the rear pair of mounting screws for the coil chassis to clear the felt.

This morning, I removed the felt pad from my working Coil case. Note the extent to which it was painted around. The edges of it were badly overpainted with the NATO Green paint and it needed to come out to more easily sand down the inside surfaces of the case for repainting back to the original factory Flat Olive Drab. The felt pad from my parts coil case will be the one going back into the finished Coil, Aerial Tuning No. 2 A. The last two photos are of the now empty coil case and the two green felt pads. The bottom one is the one to be used.


David

[David Dunlop]

Perfect weather for sanding today so I was able to get the wooden coil case stripped of its NATO Green paint and back down to pretty much bare pine. Some hand detailing left to do after all this Mouse work.

Not much filling will be needed compared to the four cases/boxes for the 52-Set. Mostly around the finger jointing on the bottom edges.

Absolutely no sign of surviving markings under the NATO Green, but the factory paint had been sanded prior to the NATO repaint, and I suspected that would be the case. I was able to confirm this case also had factory Flat Olive drab applied to it prior to the two Mounting Plates being fitted on the bottom of it. This is consistent with the findings on my parts coil case and confirms these plates were fitted in their basic plated finish as I had noticed on one wartime photo of a 52-Set a few years back.


David

[David Dunlop]

Finally got over to Princess Auto this morning to pick up a can of Xylene.

Thanks again for the tip, Barry.

That raises a slightly related question.

When I was last actively spray painting military vehicle parts with a compressor/air gun combination, I was typically working with a large number of parts at a time so was prepping and using the paint pretty much on a full paint canister basis each time. When done, the canister got cleaned out with thinner and a quantity of thinner was also sprayed through the gun to clean it all out before putting it all away.

This time around, my spray painting is going to be pretty much one or two small parts at a time, roughly a square foot surface area each go around. My thought is to mix enough paint to get the job done each time and then replicate the cleanup process as before. However, in the Operators Manual for my Campbell Hausfeld GP Spray Gun, they show an accessory Paint Canister and lid assembly that can be purchased (price presently unknown).

These days, it could be weeks before I would get round to another spray painting task. I am not sure the premixed paint would hold for that length of time and the cleanup time would probably still be the same, or maybe longer, if a second canister setup was in play. Would it be worth the cost to go the dual canister route, or just stick to the one and plan the mixing accordingly for the job at hand?


David

[David Dunlop]

With the sanding and stripping down of the NATO Green paint on the exterior of the coil case and back cover completed, I have been focusing on getting this paint off all the 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch surfaces created by the recess cuts for the front panel and rear cover, and the six 1/2-inch square reinforcing strips in the four box corners and backing for the rear cover.

It has been very slow but steadt work. I have now assembled a nice assortment of tools that work well on this small stuff in tight spaces and have worked out a fairly reliable pattern. Once I can break through the heavy coat of NATO Green, I have found the pine has a pretty good hardness about it, such that a hard steel edge can actually chip chunks of the paint of very easily. The only tricky bits so far are the presence of saw ridges on some of the 1/2-inch strips that require a bit of sanding to smooth down first.

The last of these small pieces I have to clean now are the inside faces of the four pine strips that form the backing for the rear cover. I need to have the case resting on its back on the bench with several gooseneck lamps in close to properly light the interior of the case to see what I am doing, and reach down and in at a steep angle. I end up starting at a midpoint and moving to one end, vacuum the bits out and then swing the case around to clean up the opposite direction. Slow but steady.

I will try and sort some meaningful photos out this weekend.


David

[Barry Churcher]

David what I have been using is these Preval sprayers for the small stuff. You can mix as little paint as you need. They used to be available from Carquest but now they are no longer selling them. They are available from Amazon though.
After buying a unit with a jar you only have to buy the refills. It's just like spraying with a spray bomb but you mix the paint your way and you can even use hardener. Twenty years ago I overhauled the loader cylinders on my tractor and used Allis Chalmers good quality orange and they look just as good today. When you are finished just put a bit of thinners in the jar and spray it out to clean the nozzle. Done.
Cheers
Barry

https://www.google.com/search?q=amaz...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[David Dunlop]

Barry! Talk about a trip down Memory Lane!

Back in the late 70's when I was restoring my first M38CDN, I found setting up the compressor for small paint jobs a RPITA!

Then one day, I was wandering through either Princess Auto or Canadian Tire and found a version of this product. It was a teardrop shaped brown plastic setup with a trigger on the top of the broad end and a 25 oz plastic bottle screwed underneath it. The jar was the same size as a modern small glass Smuckers jam jar.

On top of the small end was the spray nozzle and underneath it you screwed in the propellant can which was the same size as the Testors small modelling spray paint cans that were available back then. It was a dream to work with on small parts, but after a few years the propellant cans were no longer available.

I shall definitely be getting one of these rigs and some extra propellant. The two panel projects on my 52-Set are each only about +/- 1 Square Foot, for which this would be ideal!


Very Best Regards,


David

[David Dunlop]

One of the many mysteries for me regarding the 52-Set today, was the apparent universal usage of standard 1/4-inch Hex Bolt hardware for mounting the three components of the main set in the Carriers No. 4, and the Remote Receiver in its case.

There are absolutely no spanners, wrenches or sockets in the tool kit for the set the operator could use to easily remove any of these four items for a basic inspection or repair. The manual stated there should be no need for the Operator to ever have to remove any of these items from their cases, but at the same time provides a detailed explanation of what the Operator needs to do to reinstall the three components back into the Carriers No. 4, should all three need to be removed at once for some reason, but again, no reference for sourcing the necessary tools.

My assumption for years was simply that the hex hardware commonly found today must have replaced some form of factory original hardware, and the most logical hardware seemed to be 1/4-inch x 20 by half inch, slotted, RH Machine Screws, since a set of three slot head screw drivers were a part of the tool kit.

Then, around this time in 2021, a chap in England had a very original 52-Set Remote Receiver up for sale on eBay and I contacted him to ask if there were any stencil markings to be found anywhere on the exterior of the No. 2 Brown case. He replied, with additional photographs, that there were none anywhere. What did surprise me, however, was one side photo he sent that clearly showed a slotted hex head bolt, in No. 2 Brown paint, holding the receiver in its case. The owner confirmed, all four sets of hardware were the same, all were fitted from the outside in, the bolts were one half inch long and the nuts were all skinny. A mystery finally solved.

My Remote Receiver had 1/4-inch x 20 x half inch hex bolts, split washers and hex nuts in all four locations, but all were installed from the inside. I had always thought this had looked rather ugly and unfinished with the open ends of the bolts and nuts sticking out so far, so I was pleased to turn them all around with the heads to the outside. What I discovered with that change, was that the two upper sets of hardware stuck out so far, the upper service panel on the receiver er could not be removed. The combination of the hex nut and split washer actually exceeded the bolt length just enough to create the problem. So I flipped the hardware back around while I tried to sort out the problem.

For the last three years, I have swept the internet from time to time looking for slotted 1/4-inch hex bolts with little success. Lots of shouldered head stuff out there, like you find for automotive licence plates, but not the basic hex head bolt style. Then, 10 days ago, I did another sweep and found a company in Chicago with an extensive illustrated inventory. For some reason, I typed in “1/4-inch slotted hex head” and forgot the word ‘bolt’. Up popped a bunch of items called “Cap Screws”, and among them was a one inch long 1/4-inch x 20 in packs of 100, dirt cheap with free US shipping. After I calmed down a bit, I decided to see if they might have matching thin headed hex nuts so typed that in next. Up came 1/4-inch only, also in packs of 100. They were described a ‘Jam Nuts’, half the thickness of a standard hex nut.

That just left the issue of the lock washers. When I took a close look at existing split style lock washers in my wartime wireless equipment, they are all noticeably thicker than modern ones available today. When you do a similar comparison between wartime Shakeproof style lock washers and their modern equivalent internal toothed lock washers, there is very little, if any, difference in thickness.

So after several years of off and on searching, with somewhat incorrect parameters, I finally figured out what was originally used for mounting hardware for the main components of the 52-Set. I could only get 1-inch length Cap Screws but I have had to trim hardware down before, so that is not a problem. It will be a nice bench project over the winter.


David

[David Dunlop]

Here are some photos I promised of the cramped quarters being worked in to strip out the last of the NATO Green paint.

The rearmost 1/2-inch trim is the worse, with just the lower right area section actually done. Once that stuff is gone, I can work my way forward through the interior panels with my two sanders easily enough to get rid of the last of this postwar paint.


David

[David Dunlop]

Spent the morning yesterday thinking about the wartime service of my Mum and Dad and Uncles, along with nearly all of the men on both sides of the family who served during World War 1. Two family members never came back from that one, another had a lame left leg and my Grandfather on my Mum's side was an alcoholic for the rest of his life.

Then I spent the rest of the day getting the postwar green paint stripped off all the fiddly interior bits of my Coil case. Just the four interior wall panels to sand down now.


David