Hi every one today the seals i ordered, from Ross's fettling box have arrived and i have basicaly finnished the restoration. It does need a new vapouriser, as the old was totaly blocked, and i do need to order some mantles before i can show it lit up. i borrowed a vapouriser from my bowlfire, just to show the restoration. I have been after a maroon 300/300X, for a good while as it is my favourite looking bBialaddin. So here lampies are the pics and little discription of the fettle restoration. Here in the above is how the lantern arrived last week,the paint work has quite a lot of chips in it, and it has fadeied even though most of it is complete. After completely stripping it down,the tank and the frame that is to be painted,has been rubbed down and keyed with a coarse wet and dry paper,so the paint can adher to the brass,at this stage in the above pic it has had several coats of red oxide primmer. Here in the above the tank and frame have now been fully painted, useing a maroon car paint from halfords,i cant rember what colour but it was a rover red Here in the above is the brass part of the hood,it has been cleaned up a bit and polished,not to much though In the above is the filler cap and pressure realese knob,with the new seals ready to be fitted,even though the pump knob and the pressure realese key and i thought the filler cap, are made of brass they were originaly painted,even thogh when restoring a lamp stove etc it is by far the best way to do it is to do the restoration where every thing is as original as possible,but a small compramise has i have all ways thought these parts would look better polished up against the painted tank. But what i found when stripping off the paint from the filler cap, was it was not made of brass but alluminium,so this part was repainted but the release knob polished. Here in the two above pics, is a explodeed view of the control cock, and the non return valve showing the new seals. And here in the above are two the lantern full assembled,other than a new vapouriser,the only other little issue is with the control cock you can turn the knob aroud a full 360 degrees and it is hard to make a perfect seal,so it is best to fully prime/preheat, before pumping up the lantern,i may have a look out for a new control cock
Well I've got to say it looks good, I was bidding on it!!! It does however, looking a million times better than what I could do. Were you able to screw the cage down to the tank and then get the control cock in? When I had mine to bits I couldn't manage and had to revolve the cage with the control cock. Thought that if it was nice new paint it would scratch.
Good job Mr Optimus, the lantern looks awsome. When you sprayed the tank in maroon, did you go over it with lacquer? or is the key to use a very good primer? Thanks Neil
Back of Beyond said; Were you able to screw the cage down to the tank and then get the control cock in? When I had mine to bits I couldn't manage and had to revolve the cage with the control cock. Thought that if it was nice new paint it would scratch. The way to do it Brian, is to remove the knob from the control cock, screw down the control cock to the tank first, then thread the cage over the control cock spindle, orientate cage to best position and then screw down the cage. Steve.
Hi The Back o Beyond Steve and Neil,many thanks for your kind compliements. Brian as Steve said the control cock goes in first with out the vapouriser and the cage is slipped on around it. Neil i just sprayed the tank with a maroon colour paint with out the clear coat. I used a red oxide primer paint giving it about 3 good coats,allowing 20 mins between coats. The next day prior to putting the top coat on i i rubbed down the primmer,with 1500 grade wet and dry paper,dipping it in warm water frequently,to produdce a smooth finish prior to the top coat. I then apllied about 3 or 4 thin coats of top coat allowing about 20 too 30 mins between coats and let it cure over night, and then put it in the oven at the lowest setting about 60 degrees for half a hour. and i then smoothed down the paint with the 1500 wet and dry before appling the last coat. i carefully sprayed enough on so the tank looked wet but not to much for the paint to run. This has given it a realy nice smooth finnish,i must admit i am very pleased with the result
Hi All i am still waiting for a new mantle,but i rembered a while back i ordered four mantles from base camp,there own brand non thorium,two for the guardsman i resstored and two for my Bialaddin,i have not used the spares for the Bialaddin and found them in the drraw.so i have today fired up the 300X for the first time. In the above are two pics of the lantern working, i am very pleased with the 300X. I realy lioke this lantern and is one of my favourites. I will make sure to buy ssome spares when i see any going cheap
It's definitely a beauty Mr Optimus. You have done a fantastic restoration and your patience in painting is much better than mine. Is that paint metallic or is it just a high gloss? I picked up a can of maroon satin Plastikote at the weekend which I am hoping will be a reasonable match if I have to paint one.
Hi Mathew thank you for your kind compliement,it is not a mettalic just a normal non mettalic paint. It is Rover Damask red,i would think the plastikote maroon would look great on it and be a good match
