I think this is either a military or 'civilian defence' version of this lantern. Hopefully, someone can throw some light (sorry!) on that. I'd imagine the cook-top would be useless for cooking on and more suited to keeping a mug of coffee hot or warming through a sweet mince pie (as we did at Sykeside 2005 using a Tilley X246B). But I digress... I bought this 3-4 years ago from a military surplus store in Darlington. The shop owner had two huge wooden crates of them, with 12 lanterns per crate IIRC. He was asking £60 each so I asked him what was the best price he could do, hoping for a fiver off. He said, "£45" so I couldn't get my wallet out quickly enough! - after checking there were no stress cracks in the collar, to which these lanterns are prone. However, dusting off the lantern tonight, I noticed at least two - one is clearly visible in the images. So obviously these develop in time, even though the lanterns are not used - how crap is that... Anyway, the shop-owner told me he was also selling these on ebay and the lantern I bought was actually the one he'd photographed for the listing. It subsequently sold for £128 to a Japanese collector! Oddly enough, he stopped selling them in the shop after that - I wonder why..?
That's Radius to you. What kind of a product would you expect from a company made out of a bunch of discontent people who wasn't happy to work with a real lamp manufacturer like Primus? Frankly I never understood why the asians pay so much for these lanterns. The cook top should be cheaper than the real 119, which in its turn is widely overpriced. Edit: By the way. I don't think the "cook top" ever was meant to actually cook anything. Probably just to slowly melt a bucket of snow during the night to be able to make some coffe at the reveille...
Oi! - that is a real 119, if you don't mind... Actually, I've also got a 'real' 119, so badly stress-cracked that the collar was in two pieces when it arrived here. Doron kindly supplied an intact collar for that one (thank you once again, Doron!) which I haven't yet got around to fitting, but I suppose that'll have stress cracks by now - bah!
Oh, the stress cracks has nothing to do which version you got. A crappy construction is always a crappy construction... Get a Primus!
Actually I've seen stress cracks in Primus 981 collars from the 1940s. Even on 1082s from the early 1950s. The final version of the 119 had an updated collar which seems to have avoided the stress cracking. This version had other quality issues, but the collar was good.
Actually collars are a tough part to make without inducing stress into the material for any company. Atleast when they choose to use very thin brass, and roll it tightly.
You can deal with stress in brass. Ideally you take the part up to dull red heat and quench which will anneal it and remove all the stress. Not perhaps a good thing to do with a nickel plated part because unless you can get an even heat you may distort the part and also possibly discolour the nickel but you can relieve a great deal of stress by taking the temp up to around 300C and quenching. Not a proper anneal but close enough to reduice the risk of future stress cracks. In essence the higher the temp the better. You might achieve enough in a domestic oven at the highest setting but more would be better. ::Neil::
The cook top isn't at all that bad. We have tested to make coffee on it (picture on our homesite) and yes it took long, but eventually the coffee got ready, so if the lamp has to be on, you can as well make tea or coffee at the same time
These are quite nice and heavy and I got both versions. the "real" one even found its way here and bought locally. Actually I paid the same price for the NOS lantern I found on new years day and the scrap heap 119 I donated the collar from. and its a nice parts lantern (if any one needs a fount ) and David you are welcome, its rarely possible for me to help another collector with parts and when I can I must admit its fun!
Swedish civil defense were using those radius 119 stove top for sure! About those collar.. shame that almost all units got this problem. But if you will repair it by soldering it from inside of the collar it is hardly visible.
Isnt it possible to prevent cracks from comming and to expand by dismantling the collar and heat it up? Claus C
I would also like to know how to secure collar. We are always solder wire circle to the collar from inside - but it is much to soon to speak about long term results of our solution. We will see in future for how long it works.
