Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[cmp truck]

David, I see you have the leather Bags, Aerial Gear on one of the shelves. I found one in Edmonton at an antique store. I didn't know what it was for, so I posted to the no19 site making a folder called "19 set bag". If you get a chance to check my photo, is it a No. 52CDN aerial bag? I wasn't interested in acquiring it, but someone may be interested.
Ian

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by cmp truck

David, I see you have the leather Bags, Aerial Gear on one of the shelves. I found one in Edmonton at an antique store. I didn't know what it was for, so I posted to the no19 site making a folder called "19 set bag". If you get a chance to check my photo, is it a No. 52CDN aerial bag? I wasn't interested in acquiring it, but someone may be interested.
Ian

It was issued with the 20-ft and 34-ft masts for the Truck & Ground Station, so can be a common item for WS19, WS29, WS52 and possibly the WS43 as well.

The contents are the same, but vary by manufacturer - guy rope insulators can be ceramic egg type, glass shells, or bakelite chain link!

The original insulator may have been ebonite, which is very "lossy" at high power and only really suitable for the WS19 - though I have a ceramic version that has an earlier part number than the ebonite one - a later ceramic insulator (of apparently different design) was issued for the WS52.

(Oddly, the Racal MA638 mast insulator (used on the post-WW2 27-ft mast) is clearly based on the early ceramic type that I have, and not the later one!)

Chris.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Ian.

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with me regarding the BAGS, Aerial Gear you found. You have some excellent information from Chris that pretty much cover off where this item comes from and how its ‘Kit’ relates to a number of wireless sets during and after the Second World War.

Since the late 1970’s, I have put together two complete such kits and then moved them on. I did indeed recently own a third new BAGS, but have now also moved it on, not wanting to dive down that particular rabbit hole yet a third time. The components of the kit are quite heavy, and a pair of the masts a bugger to store/display in a small area.

One huge piece of advise for you. As a new item, these BAGS were designed and made from thick, stiff leather for a reason. The main pieces of kit it holds are all cast iron, large and as noted earlier…HEAVY. The BAGS were designed to be stiff in order to evenly distribute this weight for the person lugging it about. I have seen too many of these BAGS over the years fall into the hands of well meaning owners who think the leather has dried out and ‘needs to be fixed’, so out comes the Saddle Soap, Neat’s Foot Oil and any other number of leather softeners and after several hours of hard work they proclaim the newly softened bag’ fixed’. Sadly, in the process they usually notice the markings are now looking a bit faded.

The next issue, and eventually fatal for the BAGS is that if they actually have all the kit that goes in the bag, they stuff it in and secure the straps. As soon as then try picking the BAGS up, it collapses in the middle, transferring all the weight to the two straps and handle. The BAGS starts to pucker open in the middle and gape open and the straps and handles start to stretch. The stiffness of the leather that helped distribute the weight has been lost forever at that point.

So resist fixing the BAGS, Ian. It is as it should be by looks of the photo and deserves to live out its years staying that way.

Thanks again for thinking of me.

Best regards,


David

[David Dunlop]

Last weekend, Debbie wanted to visit a local Thrift Shop to look for some items to do a craft project with, so I tagged along, initially to soak up the air-conditioning, rather than sit in the car waiting.

While she grabbed a cart and went foraging, I decided to explore the electronics section where most of the electrical stuff hides. I have actually lost track of the number of wartime wireless equipment bits that have turned up in these shops over the years. I was also hoping to find an old lamp or electrical appliance with a vintage 2-prong cord I could use to replace one on a piece of test gear, as the original is starting to show signed of the rubber crystallizing.

No such luck for either items this time around, but as I was passing a shelf full of old tools, a couple of hammers caught my eye. I needed to find the right size and style of ball pane hammer for the 52-Set tool kit. Bull Dog Tools, a British company that still makes garden tools, made the wartime originals. One hammer was clearly far too large and the wrong shaped head. The second, smaller one looked very close to what was needed and although the head was covered in surface rust, the hickory handle was in excellent shape, so for $3.99, I tracked Debbie down in the shop and added it to her pile of treasures.

It took about an hour to clean nearly all of the rust off the head, oil and rub it down, and clean the handle. The trace of the name on the handle appears to be ‘Benchmate’ or ‘Benchmark’, either of which start with the correct letter, so I was quite pleased with the find overall.

Once cleaned, the next step, of course, was to see how well the hammer fits the toolbox. The hammer can really only fit in the tool box with the head to the right side and the handle resting on top of the wooden partition to the left, and when you look at the spacing around the two metal support brackets fitted on the right side, the head of the hammer best fits with the pane end towards the front of the box. The leaves a nice long area across the front of the box to store the three screw drivers and if you want to avoid accidentally discharging your flashlight by resting it switch side down. It best fits switch up and lens to the partition.

With the hammer in this position, notice how the handle, resting on the partition, keeps the handle of the soldering iron in place and how it would also help keep the hydrometer box in place when it is resting on its larger metal bracket and the partition.

I have not yet figured out how the rest of the tools were packed in the toolbox at the factory, but the various pliers likely went in the middle of the floor of the box, between the screwdrivers and flashlight.

It’s a pity that packing instructions for so much of the wartime wireless instructions have not yet turned up. Apart from the ones for the three wooden boxes/cases for the 52-Set, I would love to find the instructions for packing the small Spare Parts Box for the Wireless Set No. 19 at the factory.

David

[David Dunlop]

I am continuing to work through the Operational Check List a few times a week with the 52-Set, up to the point where I need to tune the set to 10 Mc, insert the Morse Key No. 9, and go into a full blown, key down transmit mode. Up to this point, the set is producing all the positive results it is supposed to on the Check List. The two dynamotors speed up and slow down where they are required to and the relays activate to isolate the Receiver on queue, taking it off line as they are intended.

I have noticed that he MG2A Dynamotor is not as grindy on start up as it initially was a few weeks ago. This could be the grease in the front bearings is finally getting back to lubricating things a bit better, but more likely, the Brushes are starting to seat better with the commutater.

All voltages settle into the generally acceptable ranges provided for them, once the overall set has warmed up for about 10 minutes or so and I am even getting test readings on the Meter for the Sender Valves, indicating they are operating within stated specifications. Still a bit nerve wracking, however. At the end of the month, I still plan to pull the Sender, remove all the valves and redo the resistance tests for it that were suspect initially, to see if any have improved at all. Then I will start digging deeper as required.

In the meantime, I still want to try and get some spray painting done on the outside of the Tool Box, while the weather still holds outside. I have started stripping the old paint off the metal fittings on the right side of the lid, cleaning the accumulated dirt and paint out of the various slot-head screws and cleaning away the numerous runs and ridges of NATO Green paint. Once that is all done, I can start sanding and filling the various screw holes where the original Glazing Putty has fallen out or shrunk.


David

[David Dunlop]

The last few days have been spent on removing the NATO Green paint remains from all the metal hardware on the Tool Box. This actually was an easy task, though messy, as I could see a red oxide primer on the underside of the larger paint flakes and the metal fixtures were all zinc-plated steel. The paint was only really sticking where the zinc plating had worn away prior to the NATO repaint.

The next step will be to use the flat wire wheels on my Dremel to cut away the remaining traces of rust and other oxides before a final wipe down with cleaner and giving all the metal parts a coat of new primer.

I will also have to borrow Debbie’s little B&D Mouse Sander to smooth out the lumpy paint areas on the box around the metal hardware and rough up the overall wood areas to give the new paint a better grip. Tied in with that will be filling in the screw holes needing this work, with new Glazing Putty.

On the electrical front, I gave the 52-Set another run through this morning while reception was still good on WWV in Boulder, CO. I still plan on pulling the Sender and rerunning the resistance tests that were red flagged earlier, to see if anything has changed since electrons have been flowing through most of the Sender circuits for a while now.


David

[David Dunlop]

The old NATO Green paint is now off all the metal furniture on the Tool Box and all said surfaces have now been brushed clean of all rust and other oxides with a small Dremel wire wheel.

I picked up a supply of sanding pads for Debbies Mouse Sander and was going to tidy up the few runs and blobs of old paint on some of the surfaces before getting to filling in the various screw holes needing that attention. Then I asked myself why I wanted to sand twice at this point and realized there really was no need.

So the holes now have a fresh coat of putty and I am letting the Tool Box sit and the putty cure, so I can do all that sanding at once.


David

[David Dunlop]

Sanding down the exterior of the Tool Box has now been completed and the next step will be to prime all the metal hardware to get it ready for the topcoat of Flat Army Olive.



David

[David Dunlop]

I was hoping the sanding of the front of the Tool Box would bring up more of the factory original stencil but no such luck. I can still see ghosts of some of the information lines as per the Tool Box Geoff Truscott recently purchased here on MLU, to know the layout was consistent with the images in the manuals. The three later sets of markings (all differing from each other) are a bit more legible. Two, along with the factory original are done in a ½-inch high by 3/8-inch wide font. The last and simplest (VAOS Reference Numbers only) is in a larger ¾-inch high by ½-inch wide font.

Similar stencil font software is still available on-line but differs slightly in where and how the individual characters are split to avoid them falling apart when the stencil is cut. That will all need further investigation. In the meantime, I am making notes of how these older stencils were cut for each character to get a better idea of what I am up against.


David

[Lynn Eades]

I have a Marsh Stencil cutter, made in Belleville, Illinois. Google it. They are still making them and there is a new one for sale on trademe (N.Z. auction site) listed by Grainger inc. in the states (I guess they make them now?) NZ$ 4300.00
Each machine only does one size, and cuts a stencil into Oil board (cardboard)

[David Dunlop]

Thanks for posting that, Lynn. That is quite an interesting machine. Bit of a staggering price, however.

There are a couple of machines on the market at the moment that can handle Manila weight materials and also work with Vector Graphic software, which is a huge plus when it comes to sizing stencils. Sales on such equipment will be in season soon, so I have my fingers crossed.

Same goes for software. I have my eye on one that looks very promising for doing the decal work I am going to need for the Supply Unit and Coils, Aerial No.2A, and I think it will also work for any adjustments needed with stencil software.

I will post more on that as it all unfolds.

Cheers,

David

[Lynn Eades]

David, the Marsh machines are definitely hardware (heavy) They were around during WWII and it's possible / probable that the stencils used on your tool box were cut in a Marsh machine.

[David Dunlop]

Since the Olive Drab paint I am working with on the various 52-Set wooden boxes and cases is a latex, eggshell finish paint, I was wondering how I was going to deal with priming the metal hardware on all these wooden items, given the grey oxide primers I have on hand are all oil based. Then I remembered several months ago I had seen some small cans of Tremclad metal primer somewhere that I thought were water based. I could not remember where, so started searching the usual stores this morning. On the third try, at a local RONA, I found what I needed, had them shake a can silly and bought it.

This afternoon, I now have all the metal hardware on the Tool Box primed and curing. With luck, I should be able to get the finish coat of Olive Drab applied this weekend.


David

[David Dunlop]

Time for an update on the project.

Physical work wise, not a lot has been going on with any of the kit. What time has been spent on the 52-Set has been reading up on tuning procedures for the full set and working through them with the set. Not happy with it all so far. It is taking me between 10 and 15 minutes to sort out each time. I think the timeframe is slowly improving, but I would really like to be able to accomplish the task is 5 minutes or less, once the set has warmed up. That seems a long way away at the moment and nothing about the process feels ingrained, or automatic. But I persevere. The bulk of my time, as expected this time of year, is spent on yard and household activities. Sigh.

I was hoping to get at least the Tool Box painted this summer, but the weather has impacted even the simple window/door paint-trimming refresh I had hoped to accomplish. The other problem I discovered was that the air compressor I have had for the last 10 years cannot deliver enough air volume to operate the paint gun I have planned to use. The gun requires 2.0 CFM at 40 PSI. I could not find any useful reference data in the manual at hand but did eventually find the compressor in the CH Archives on line and the air delivery was a very uninspiring 0.8 CFM at 40 PSI.

As it turned out, Canadian Tire had an 8-Gal Compressor on sale for half price last week that delivers 4.8 CFM at 40 PSI, so that part of the project can get back on track, with the new compressor broken in and ready to go.


David

[David Dunlop]

While picking up a supply of paint strainers last weekend at the local RONA Store, I spotted a couple of paint tins sitting on a lower shelf, so took a closer look at one.

It turned out to be an empty, 1-quart tin, priced at just under $5.00, and it was what I would consider a classic paint tin. No black plastic top and bottom and no interior ‘rubber’ liner on the lid or tin itself; just a coat of varnish. The 1-lb tin of grease that was part of the 52-Set kit popped into my head so I bought one of the tins on spec.

Turns out it is a perfect match for the tin illustrated in the Parts Manual. I had thought the tins might have been painted in the typical horizontal red, white and blue stripes from Imperil Oil with factory markings, but the illustration is clearly a bare metal tin. Probably something that helped keep the costs down for the supply contract during the war. All the identification was probably on the outside of the case of tins and on arrival at whatever Central Supply Depot, the typical small beige paper labels were added to each tin. Not sure who actually applies those labels to military supply packaging.

I will probably end up buying a couple of cartridges of the new replacement grease for the wartime Andoc and transferring it to this tin, when I clean and repack the bearings of the Supply Unit dynamotors.


David

[David Dunlop]

The current owner of this beast was kind enough to lend it to me yesterday so I can cut the six stencils I need so far for the 52-Set Project. Two small bundles of Oil Boards were also made available. The original plan was for me to work at the owner’s location but we realized that would have involved me having to take all the items needing stencils to the machine location to properly space/size/fit each stencil board. It made more sense to get the machine to my place, do the work and return it. That was an interesting exercise.

After a quick basic lesson on how the cutter works, I was able to get the car up to a large overhead door and load the cutter safely into the trunk. It looks innocent enough sitting on my work desk now, but trust me, that 15”W x 21”D x 12”H cast iron mass weighs every ounce of its rated 55 pounds once you have humped it out of the car, 40 feet to the house, down a flight of 11 stairs and across a finished basement to your work shop, without seeing what your feet are doing. The local gym has nothing on that workout!

From what I have read last evening, Diagraph and Marsh are the two sole players in the manual stencil cutting machine business, with Diagraph being the first out of the gate over 100 years ago. There must have been a lot of Patent Licence Dancing going on as both company products are alarmingly similar in looks and operation, and the resulting stencils from both machines would be comfortably interchangeable, assuming both machines were similar vintage. Newer machines from both companies have adopted slightly softer edges to their fonts than were present back in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and the difference is readably noticeable when the two fonts are side by side.

The Oil Board is critical to the long-term good operation of these cutters. There is a central oiling point in the middle of the large Character Wheel. A few drops every couple of years keeps all the mechanical bits in good lube and functioning smoothly and it needs to be cleaned of accumulated dust every couple of months but none of this deals with the cutting die sets. All of these rely solely on the Oil Board to keep their cutting edges lubed and sharp. If one tries cutting standard stationary paper or manila to save money on Oil Board, the cutting dies will plug up with dust, jamb and wear out. The Oil Board is also intended to be an easily cleaned surface once you have finished working with the stencils, so you do not constantly have to recut new stencils.

I will report more as I work through the stencils I need to make this week.



David

[David Dunlop]

I managed to chew my way through a half dozen pieces of oil board while learning how to work with this Diagraph to replicate the existing wartime stencils on all the 52-Set items. Once you have it figured out, the work actually flows quite smoothly. I will assemble and post my working notes shortly, but first wanted to show the results for the three boxes/cases in the 52-Set Kits. I have photographs of two of the boxes/cases to compare to but only a ghost image of the original stencil under newer paint layers on the Case, Operating for the Remote Receiver which did not want to photograph well at all.

There is just enough curl in the oil boards they do not lay completely flat, so I ended up having to hold them up in the air near a white wall to get decent images of them. Hopefully I can get the last three stencils cut this evening.


David

[David Dunlop]

Although these stencil cutting machines are beasts to move, they are surprisingly straight forward to operate. Everything you need is right in front of you, on top of the machine.

When you turn the large Character Wheel, top centre, the red indicator moves to the character you want to select and this places the corresponding character cutting die set at the front of the case, directly below the Operating Lever.

The lower front Table is where you place the sheet of Oil Board. This Table is cast with six stepped ridges, the first at the lowermost edge of the Table and the remaining five continue up the Table under the Cutter Die Set Guard. This arrangement gives you the six rows of text the machine is capable of cutting in a sheet of Oil Board, assuming the piece of Oil Board you are working with is six inches high. You start with the Oil Board at the bottom ridge of the Table, to cut the first, top most, row of the stencil and move up a ridge for each of the remaining five rows.

The lever at the bottom front of the Table raises and lowers the set of rollers that move the Oil Board from right to left across the Table. Lever up, raises the rollers. Lever down, locks the rollers down onto the Oil Board. To the best of my knowledge, there is no ‘Reverse’. The machine will only move the Oil Board from right to left. In addition, the machine will only cut reliably starting at the top row of characters and working down. If you try starting a stencil at a row and then working up, the rollers will eventually arrive on a cut character in the Oil Board, thereby losing contact with the Oil Board and stop moving it.

The ridges on the Table are 0.75 inch high each. This gives a 0.25 inch spacing between each row of characters on the stencil you are cutting and this arrangement is fixed in stone, or in this case cast iron.

You will notice in the attached photograph there are four vertical coloured lines cast into the Table: red, white, red and red. The first three lines are clustered to the left side of the table with a 1.5 inch space between each of them, and the remaining red line is somewhat to the right, three inches away. When you align the left edge of the Oil Board with one of these three lines on the left of the Table at the start of each row of characters you are cutting on the Oil Board, the rows will be left justified, with the first characters of each row directly under each other.

Regardless of the size of the character you are cutting, each character uses a 0.75 inch wide block of space. To get a blank space between words, you only move the Cutting Lever down half way. This covers the easy, single line stencils, or left justified multiline stencils.

Where things get challenging and introduce a dash of basic mathematics to ones though processes, is when you have to deal with multi line centre justified stencils. I was lucky to have photographs, illustrations or actual objects on hand to confirm centre justification existed in the original wartime stencil work on the 52-Set.

I started by printing out each line on a piece of paper, counting the characters in each line (a space is a character) and noting the number at the end of each line. As a simple example, suppose I had a three line stencil and the character count was seven, ten and eight. I would choose the white vertical reference line for the middle, longest row when I got to it.

You will note that the spacing between the set of red, white and red lines to the left of the Table is 1.5 inches. This equals two full character spaces, either side of the white line. If you move the left edge of the Oil board towards the left red line, you are moving the start point of that row of characters to the right on the Oil Board. Conversely, if you move the left edge of the Oil Board towards the right red line, the start of the line of characters moves to the left on the Oil Board.

So the first line of this imaginary stencil is three characters shorter than the middle line (seven versus ten). To centre this first line over the middle line, there must be 1.5 empty spaces either end of this first line. The tricky bit is dealing with the half character at the start of this line. If any character takes up 0.75 inches, then half a character will use up 3/8-inch. So we start the stencil by placing the Oil Board on the lowest ridge of the Table and lining up the left edge of the board 3/8-inch to the left of the white reference line and locking it down. The start point for this line is now one half character to the right. We get the extra full character by only moving the Cutting Lever down half way. You then proceed to cut the seven characters of the first line of the stencil and release the board. Relocate the Oil Board on the next ridge up on the Table and align the left edge with the white reference line and lock it down. Start cutting the 10 characters of this line and release the board. The first line will now be centred over the second line with 1.5 character spaces each end.

Move the Oil Board one more ridge up the Table and align the left edge of it once again to the white reference line. Start this line with a space and then cut the eight characters required and release the board. You should then have a three line, centre justified, stencil.

The manual for the stencil cutter does not go into this sort of detail for some reason, but it is useful to know and worth documenting.

Three more stencils to go. If anything new pops up, I will let you know.



David

[David Dunlop]

This particular stencil is probably the most interesting of the 52-Set stencils I am aware of to date.

As you can see in the photo of the original surviving markings, it is not a true stencil marking, but some form of silk screened product, perfectly centred on the upper left side of the Carriers No. 4. The characters are definitely all 1/2-inch in height, but slightly slimmer, and without the webbing the stencil cutting machine produces. The line lengths are a very close match but the overall height of the three lines on the stencil is 1/4-inch lower than the actual markings on the Carriers No. 4. Also, there is no means of cutting a lower case, underlined ‘o’ on a stencil machine.

When I started this project, I assumed Canadian Marconi Company built everything for the set but actively contracted out for components. I am not sure why I made this assumption considering I knew Northern Electric had built the Supply Units for the earlier No. 9 Sets made by CMC.

I have now learned RCA and Philco were clearly providing major sub assemblies and accessories to CMC for the 52-Set as sub-contractors. The sheet metal work required for the chassis of the Receivers, Supply Units, Senders and Coils Aerial Tuning (and probably the Remote Receiver Case) would certainly be within the capacity of Marconi’s shops to have produced, and with the exception on the Remote Receiver Case currently soaked with NATO Green paint, all the other chassis bear CMC inspection stamps punched into the metal.

The Carriers No. 4 is a somewhat different beast. Although the basic three compartment box is the same gauge metal as the chassis items, the Carriers No. 4 has some very heavy duty steel formed and fitted to it. It would not surprise me at all if the Carriers No. 4 were sub contracted out by Marconi for production and whatever company manufactured them used silk screen style tools for the markings. When I eventually get to the point of restoring the Carriers No. 4, perhaps some stampings will show up on the metal parts somewhere that will shed more light on this bit of 52-Set production.

In the meantime, I now have a stencil I can use for this marking, if all else fails, and enough time to explore silk screening options a little more to see if there is a way to easily replicate this item.


David

[David Dunlop]

This test meter arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon.

In the original Issue 1 of the F524 2nd to 4th Echelon Work Manual for the Wireless Set No. 52, when doing calibration/alignment work on the Sender, one had to construct a Dummy Load from a number of switches, capacitors, resistors and an ammeter to tune against. However, in the 18 January 1961 Revision 2 of F524, this Marconi Instruments Ltd TF957/1 Wattmeter was available to do the work for the Low Power output work on the Sender. It was simply connected between the Aerial and Ground, along with a 120 V, 150 W Light Bulb and away you went with your test work.

At the same time I had discovered this information, this meter popped up for sale on eBay out of Alberta. Quite a surprise when it arrived. I was expecting something in size comparable to a typical RCA, or Simpson, Multimeter of similar vintage, but this 15 lb, 12 inch high by 10 inch wide by 8.5 inch deep beastie showed up instead. Quite a size for a passive piece of test gear.

The meter is a Marconi Instruments Ltd, England product from 1957 and the TF957/1 was the export version of the TF957 for the North American Market. The main differences are the use of BNC terminals for the 1-Watt and 25-Watt test connectors and both circuits being standardized to 52 Ohms. This one was owned by the Canadian Army and probably disposed of shortly after 28 April 1994. That was the meter’s last calibration date with the next one noted as being due 15 July 1995. Missing the extension cable for the probe, one cover latch assembly and the Instruction Manual/ Card, which probably stored inside the cover with the probe and extension cable.

As much as it would have been fun to build the original Dummy Load, this is going to be so much easier.


David

[David Dunlop]

Two sets of Stencil Brushes arrived in today’s mail. They are natural bristle, square cut and small enough to work with the ½-inch stencils I recently cut for the 52-Set Project.

I toyed with the idea of tracking down an original stencil brush, the type with the paint reservoir handle, but they would be much too large for such a small sized stencil and with the oil board being close to 1/32-inch thick, I would likely have issues getting paint easily into the cut-outs without serious risk of too much paint suddenly blobbing under the oil board.

From what I have read on the current crafting media, it is far better to use very little paint and build up the density you need in several layers.

Fortunately, I have enough ‘goofed’ oil board stencils to practice on until I get the process right.


David

[James D Teel II]

Stencil brushes are cool and all, but I've found that a cut off piece of new kitchen sponge works just as well and with much less expense.

Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see it all in operation!

[Bob Carriere]

They have cheep foam on a stick for dabbing and I have used off white...looks a bit grimmy poster acrylic paint in small bottles.... very thick and works well.

.....and yes let it dry and dab again for more density. sticks very well on flat OD...... not sure about semi gloss finish.

[David Dunlop]

James and Bob.

Thanks for your feedback. Your timing was spot on in that Debbie and I had just been up to the local Michaels for some yarn for Debbie and I took the opportunity to see what they had in stock for stencil brushes. They had some dome shaped bristle brushes available and a number of the foam type you described. Debbie says the foam ones are called ‘pouncers’ in the Crafting World. Who knew.

I also had a look at the paints you mentioned, Bob. The white you described was not in stock, unfortunately. They had a sale on and it looked like that shelf had taken a hit.

I am using a latex paint for the boxes/cases and plan to pick up a small tin of the plain white eggshell finish base coat you add the tinting to, to do the stencils with, so should be OK there when the time comes.


David

[David Dunlop]

Spray painting today, in spite of perfect weather, did not go well.

I did a lot of oil based enamel spray painting years ago, but this was my first attempt at working with a latex paint with an air gun. After a lot of reading, the key issue in working with a latex paint in an air gun is the viscosity. From there, it goes tricky very quickly. There are quite a few thinning formulas out there and all come with warnings. Too thick and the gun plugs and you have to be fast to clean it. Too thin and the number of required coats to get the colour you want and the finish, goes up. At the same time, the colour starts to get lighter and if you go too thin, the tint particles start falling out of suspension. After an hour of fiddling about, I could not get the gun to draw the paint through it at all, so gave up and wasted more time cleaning up the gun and making sure it could at least spray clean water in the correct pattern before putting it away and bringing out the backup plan, small paint roller.

Two coats and four hours later, the tool box is safely back in the basement to cure and harden.

I started with a block of 4x4 under the bottom of the box and painted the back of the box first. I then carefully picked the box up by the sides and turned it to face me and then tilted it towards me letting the lid swing open until the box was upside down.

I then set the lip of the box across two pieces of 4x4, while swinging the lid forward to rest on a 2x4. In this position I could then easily paint all the other remaining sides of the box. After four hours, I repeated the process for a second coat and then brought the tool box back into the basement to cure The attached two photos show it curing in the main painting position described above.

One thing I will do differently with the other boxes/cases is to prime all the hardware by hand as I did this time, but then finish paint all the hardware by hand as well, before going to the roller. On the bright side, the roller application has produced a very nice finish to the paint and I think it is going to work out very well.


David

[David Dunlop]

The tool box is now dry to the touch but the paint still has a soft feel to it. The manufacturers instructions advise it takes a good 14 days for the paint to hard cure and finally resist push back happening if any surfaces get a hard rub, and become fully wash tolerant.

I did want to get the touch ups done on the metal hardware, so carefully turned the box upright on my work table this morning and it is now resting on two small strips of wood located under the four lower corner plate screws.

The two photos today show the tool box before and after the touch up work was completed. Now the whole paint job can fully cure for the next 10 days, which it will likely take, now that the cooler, slightly more humid fall weather has arrived.

Even though I elected to go with an eggshell finish, rather than the original full flat, when I had the paint for this part of the project mixed, I am very much pleased with the colour match. The factory original full flat paint on the inside of the lid in these photos matches the new exterior paint perfectly.

I have to thanks Bruce Parker again for sending me his ‘parts’, Coil Aerial Tuning Unit for this project. The interior of it was still the factory original Flat Olive Drab green Marconi had used on all the wooden components of the 52-Set and the back cover of the coil box was what I took to the local paint shop to get matched. This is definitely an interesting paint colour. Depending on the lighting conditions you view it under, it can look either green, or brown, or some sort of bizzare mix of both colours. Even the technician at the shop could not tell and took three scans of it before being satisfied it was indeed ‘green’.


David

[David Dunlop]

Just over halfway through the cure period for the paint on the tool box. It has now taken on a hard feel and the amount of off-gassing has dropped off dramatically.

Time to start practicing with the stencils I goofed on. The one surviving original stencil I have for the 52-Set Project is on the 4-Section Aerials Reel, but it provides a lot of information. The most notable bit is that stencil markings definitely do not have the uniform, consistency of any decal or screened markings. The distribution of the paint throughout the stencil is uneven. Some parts will have a solid buildup of paint, where other parts will have the colour over which the stencil was applied, clearly ghosting through.

Closely associated with this is the complete lack of any sign of runs in the paint having taken place. The application of the paint was very much to the light side and built up quickly with several thin layers where it was deemed necessary to do so.

80 years later on, this all gives the ‘rookie’ a lot of leeway to get the replication right.



David

[David Dunlop]

This morning, I was able to measure up and trim the stencil for the Tool Box markings to fit properly on the front of the box, when the time arrives to do the stencil.

Once I figure out how to hold it in place while doing the stencil, I should be good to go. My options at the moment are tape, rubber cement, or some combination of the two.


David

[David Dunlop]

This last weekend I finally found the BNC Cable I had been looking for and as I suspected, it was a perfect match for the one required for this Wattmeter and it is now stored inside the cover of the meter, along with the Probe.

David

[David Dunlop]

I have completed a round of stencil tests with the brushes I recently purchased. I did not try the 3/4-inch brush as it was far too large for the size of stencil I am using.

The first attempt was the letter 'N' lower centre in the photo with the 1/2-inch brush. Way too much bleed under the stencil on its own so I stopped with the one letter. the next attempt was the test block to the right side with the 3/8-inch brush and the plain stencil. Cleaner, but still way too much paint bleed under the stencil. Both of these tests were done with multiple thin coats build up with the brush.

The last test was the block to the left. For this, I secured the stencil to the test folder with a coat of Rubber cement, pressed the stencil down with a pencil eraser to ensure the stencil was as flat as possible and I let the rubber cement dry for 20 minutes at room temperature. I then rubbed the excess cement off the top of the stencil with my finger and used a round toothpick to clean up any excess cement inside each stencil segment. Then out came the 3/8-inch stencil brush again and multiple coats were build up until the majority of the folder colour vanished.

A very slight bit of paint wicking took place, but overall, I am very pleased with this result and kit will be the process I use with the tool box stencil.

David