Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

With 24 hours of drying time now on the flat black paint, I was able to easily slide off the initial paper guards from all three sets of flags. They can now finish setting up their curing for the week.

I have to give the application of the luminous Natural Green paint some thought now. This needs to be done by hand with small artists brushes. The paint has to be shaken well before and while using. I am not sure how thick it is to apply, nor how long it takes to dry between coats.

The tricky bit to master is getting each coast evenly and smoothly applied. My thought process is that thicker brush lines might just glow more brightly than thinner sections due to more phosphors being present. That might result in visible brush lines in the paint when it is in 'luminous mode'.

I am going to practise a bit with small squares to get a feel of just how best to work with this paint. I may even resort to doing the painting under black lamp conditions in order to more readily detect brush strokes as I proceed.

I will keep you posted.

David

[David Dunlop]

The last couple of days have been spent experimenting with a couple of Natural Green luminous paints, to see how easy they are to work with in a hand painting situation.

The two paints I have found locally are both acrylic and made by the same company, DECOART, in the USA. I found them in the local Michal’s craft store. It was an interesting and informative exercise.

First, the basics for each paint. In the two accompanying photographs, the DS102 paint is on the left and the DS50 on the right. The daylight and luminous colours of these two paints are identical and match the natural green luminous paint found on original wartime 19-Sets and the green on the panels of the 52-Set equipment. DS102 is the thicker of the two paints by far. It comes with a pen head cap intended to extrude a thin bead of paint, to give a dimensional effect on whatever project one might be working on. But it can be applied by brush readily. The DS50 is a true paint. It must be well shaken before using and if whatever you are doing takes more than 15 to 20 minutes to apply paint to, you need to recap and re-shake, before continuing.

One thing that is absolutely essential when working with either paint is that you need to work with this paint under a UV, or Black Light, in the dark. It is the only way to see how well, or poorly, the phosphors are being distributed on the surface you are working on.

The other interesting thing for both paints. I started with the crisp white satin, white paint as the base for both paints. The very first coat of either luminous paint changes the crisp white to a soft cream colour. This phenomenon was exactly what I had seen with the tone of the surviving white paint on the Flick Indicator Flags on 19-Set and my 52-Set. There may very well be some normal discolouration of the wartime flat white paint over the years, but the bulk of the colour change would appear to be the addition of the luminous paint.

I started with the DS50 paint first. It is a challenge! As soon as you apply any pressure to the brush, or move it across the surface you are painting, the phosphors squeeze out of the way. You end up with the main surface area with next to no phosphors and a thin line of them around the perimeter. To a point, this was good news.

When I first removed the front panel from the Sender and saw the six Flick Indicator Flags, I got out my UV Light to see if there was any glow left on the flags. The only thing visible was a thin green line around the two side edges, and a slightly thicker one at the top. My experience with this paint now tells me that during the 202 Workshop rebuild in the 1960’s these flags were indeed repainted and whoever did it started at the lower; black edge – which was probably masked off – and moved the brush up to the top of the flags were the metal folds back along the top.

It took four coats of this paint to get enough infill in the centre of the test square for a green glow to be noticeable, but brush lines were very much in evidence. Three more coats finally started to tone down the brush strokes and make the luminous green paint ‘pop’. That information told me the workshop repaint was very likely one or two coats at most, and very likely done in normal workshop lighting.

The DS102 paint was very much a paste and applied rather easily. There was no spreading of the phosphors away from the brush and in the attached photos; only three coats were needed to reach the same level of coverage as the thinner DS50.

I had initially hoped the nice crisp satin white paint was what the finished result would be, but now having worked with this paint and seeing how it matches wartime original looks, I am quite pleased.

David

[David Dunlop]

Well finally, the 6 Flick Indicator Flags on the Sender can glow in the dark again. I am pretty certain this might just be the first time since 1966, when the set went in for an overhaul.

As per the first photo, I went with Post It Notes again to mask off the lower black paint portions of the flags. As soon as I had finished applying the paint and rinsed off the brush, I removed the masks. This particular paint is quite thick and does not easily spread. It does like to bond with paper and fabric, however, so the sooner you remove it the better.

The second photo is charging up the paint with my black lamp after it had cured and the last photo is what it looks like in the dark now.

Quite pleased with the way it turned out.

David

[David Dunlop]

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

[David Dunlop]

After an hours worth of finger polishing work on the DOORS assembly this afternoon, I have been able to cut through the discoloured varnish on the top upper left quadrant of the DOORS and produce an even colour of grey from underneath the discolouration.

Even more exciting, when compared to the paint patina I currently have on both receivers, it is about as perfect a match as one could hope for, and will also work very nicely for repainting the Supply Unit panel when the time comes. I must admit, this varnish coat is much thicker than any I have ever encountered on a 19-Set panel and I am certain my knuckles are going to show me their displeasure tomorrow.

The other interesting find was on the upper left Shakeproof fastener, which got a bit of a clean up as well. The “18” stamped on the shoulder of the fastener, either side of the wing head, shows up clearly now. This is the size number for the fastener, but I have yet to discover how this sizing system works, or on what it is based. I cannot read the number on the lower fastener. It is just too dirty at the moment. I can tell, however, that it appears to be a smaller size than the upper one. It has a slightly smaller shoulder and a thinner wing head.

Once I have the Doors completely polished, I will take a photo of it against one of the receiver panels.

David

[David Dunlop]

The upper half of the DOORS Assembly has now had the discoloured varnish polished back down, and so far, no complaints from my fingers.

I will complete the main door panel in two more sections before tackling the hinge plate.

David

[David Dunlop]

Now at the 3/4-Point for cleaning the main door panel for the Sender.

David