Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Much too cloudy and overcast today, so I only got about another inch lower in the cleaning process on the right hand side of the Sender panel, before my eyes went into full Autorotation Mode.

David

[David Dunlop]

I picked up this brute today, the 2nd CPP-2 Power Supply I will need to fully check out the 52-Set.

Many thanks to Brian Asbury, who still has these supplies in stock, and to the MLU Shipping Team of Rob Love and Derk Derin, for getting it to Winnipeg and warehousing it, until I could pick it up.


David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I picked up this brute today, the 2nd CPP-2 Power Supply I will need to fully check out the 52-Set.

Many thanks to Brian Asbury, who still has these supplies in stock, and to the MLU Shipping Team of Rob Love and Derk Derin, for getting it to Winnipeg and warehousing it, until I could pick it up.


David

A later one with the 12/24V access door....nice. Now just find a source for the mains fuse.

[David Dunlop]

I was able to even out the cleaning a bit today, and with this little bit done with, a quick calculation gives me about 59.65 % of the panel cleaning for the Sender has now been completed.

That finally includes the five riveted STOPS for the three dials, which are a real pain to clean around effectively, and it also gets the upper riveted mounting post for the clear acrylic POINTER located on the right side of the FREQUENCY dial. Just the lower riveted mounting post to deal with now and after that, nice flat panel to work on.

This point in the cleaning also leaves 14 of the 30 decals now cleaned around, so nearly half way through that part of the task as well.

I am going to have to get another tube of polish this weekend. The thick coat of varnish on this Sender panel is really eating through the tube I purchased at the start of this project. By comparison, when I cleaned about 10 19-Set panels back in the 1980's, I still had nearly a third of a tube left.

David

[Wayne Hingley]

I admire your patience and attention to detail David! Great work. Do you plan to reapply some type of clear coat in the end, or leave it as-is with the polished surface?

[rob love]

New rule for the MLU express: No CPP-2s. F-n things are heavy.

Otherwise, happy to have helped out.

[David Dunlop]

Cloudy with showers this morning in the ‘Peg, so no polishing getting done today. I do have a few errands to take care of, however, one of which is picking up another tube of polish to see me through the rest of this project. I will probably also get a chance to do some work on the new CPP-2 a little sooner than I expected.

Thank you for your kind words, Wayne. Very much appreciated. Once all the discoloured varnish has been polished back, I will be leaving the front panel alone, other than the required touching up of missing paint. I know there are a number of modern clear coats available for protecting and relaxing the decals available for modeling etc., and they work very well. The big unknown for me, however, is I have no clue what these 75+ year old water transfer decals are made of, as compared to today’s products. I am just not prepared to risk them. It will be a different matter when I get to the Supply Unit restoration. I will be taking it right back to the metal and essentially starting over because the 1966 rebuild decals are the wrong colour, font size and poorly applied. This is in addition to the lower inch of the panel having been bent inwards just enough to pop the paint off along that section, which puts the quality of the rebuild priming into question. Since those decals will be modern materials, I will use a modern flattener/top coat on them.

I am a bit of an odd duck when it comes to this restoration I fear. Whenever I am looking at this wireless set, or handling it for that matter, I cannot help to wonder about all the hands it passed through at the Canadian Marconi Company plant in Montreal. From the people punching out all the raw metal parts, shaping, welding, riveting, painting and all the many assembly points until it was tested and packed for shipping.

Probably mostly women with some older men sprinkled into the mix, but all brought together to build something as their contribution towards the war effort. Did they ever wonder who would end up using these sets they were making? Would a particular set they were working on be one to handle special, or important communications? My mind just doesn’t stop with this really. The decals on this Sender really get to me sometimes. They are the originals. Somebody was actually handling and looking at them the moment they were applied. Checking everything was just right and moving the panel on to the next station. And now, here I am doing exactly the same thing. In their wildest dreams, I am sure none of the CMC workers who moved this particular wireless set down the assembly line ever dreamed that in 2020 it would still be around.

I cannot wait to finally get this set up and running on the air again. I really want to hear what it sounds like. Warts and all. We read all the time about the problems and limitations of wartime signals equipment. Just another factor that impresses the hell out me regarding the determination of the wartime generation. They worked through all of that and got the job done! So if reading about what they achieved is impressive, I most certainly want to experience the same conditions of operation of this equipment as they experienced. That enables me to more fully appreciate their accomplishments. For me, that experience is an important link to our past generations and would be completely lost if I were to gussy this set up with all sorts of modern improvements that turned it into a ‘much better set’. If I want a much better set, I can buy one at any of a dozen shops in town. But I will miss the experience.

Sorry, That was a borderline rant, I think.

David