Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

So I have been spinning my wheels with this part of the project since 18 May 2025, trying to get a matched coat of paint down on the front panel of the COILS, Aerial Tuning No. 2A. Attempt number four went down this weekend after discovering the problem was air being dissolved in the paint during the spray process. The finished spray coat looks perfect but as soon as drying gets underway, millions of micro-bubbles of air start coming out of the paint to the point when it has dried, it looks like a very fine mica flake metallic. This can apparently be wet sanded out with a 600 grit or higher sanding paper, but one must be careful not to cut into the primer.

Meanwhile, on the back burner, I was getting low on the gloss Navy Grey (Misty Grey today) that was the original grey colour used at the factory for the 52-Set. It had been discontinued at Canadian Tire but a product internet search turned up a supply at Brantford Surplus in Ontario so I ordered another can this morning. Since the wooden case for the Coils Assembly has been restored to factory original colour and plating, I decided to complete the process with a factory original Navy Grey to complete the item and allow me to move on to getting the new luminous decals sorted out. The overall look of the complete 52-Set will then be of one in service prior to the conversion to the NATO Green paint that came into use sometime in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. It will simply have acquired a new Coils Assembly from Stores, for whatever reason.

Once this Coils Assembly is finally finished, I can then move to the Supply Unit to finish its restoration. It already has a set of Workshop Rebuild decals on the upper left corner of the front panel and I have photographed them and speced them out, so a Navy Grey paint on its front panel will also be a logical alternative. The only wrinkle here will be that the Workshop Rebuild decals were all white on clear which cannot be replicated on a home printer and I suspect a small run of such an item from a supplier would be cost prohibitive. In any event, the history of the Supply Unit will be well documented and the project can continue to move forward at an acceptable pace once again.



David