Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[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

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

There must be an easier way. The factory would have been pumping these out by the hundreds and wouldn't have fought as you are fighting. What was their secret? Any chance they were screened on?

Originally Posted by 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

[Bob Carriere]

.....works good BUT will leave permanent mark on flat OD paint like truck doors. A stencil cut on 15mil acetate held in place with magnetic strips works well with very thick stencil paint and foam dabber.

Flat OD paint will mark very easily and cannot be repaired short of repainting the whole door skin... trying to re-spray patch always mess things up and stencil paint has to be re sanded to bare primer.

Cheers