Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Work on stripping the old paint accumulations from the metal hardware is steadily moving forward.

I now have the hardware stripped on the left and right ends and finished the back panel yesterday evening. Surprisingly, quite a bit of the factory original Flat Olive Green paint survived on the two hinge straps on the back panel. It will be interesting to see how much is still under the light green paint when I get around to sanding it.

Considering the current heat wave in the province at the moment, outdoor chores are in a bit of a standby mode, so I may just get the metal hardware on the bottom panel and front of the case done this week.



David

[David Dunlop]

When I painted the Tool Box, I had a 1-quart can of the Olive Green used by Canadian Marconi Company replicated at the local RONA Paint Shop in an Eggshell Finish Latex. I used about half that can when all was said and done. The paint had been mixed in September 2019, so it was pretty likely a number of Dye Lot changes for the various tints had likely evolved over the last three and a half years. That made me a little nervous purchasing additional paint. I certainly did not want the cost of a large can, pushing the $100.00 mark these days, so decided to stick with another quart can running just $26.00.

I took the first tin, with the formula on it, and the rear panel from my parts Coils, Aerial Box that has the minty original paint still on the inside, back to the RONA store last Sunday and had a second quart mixed. It was a spot on perfect match to the first can. Just to be sure, however, when I paint the Cases, Spares I am going to mix half of the new paint in with the older paint.



David

[David Dunlop]

The weather is still not great for yard chores, either too hot or just enough wind/rain to shut various projects down, so I was able to work on the Spare Parts Case and finished off the initial cleaning of all the metal hardware by completing this work on the bottom and front of the case this morning.

Good thing I had left the front until last. I had done this because cleaning the two latches is very fiddly work, but on this case, I discovered a layer of heavy tan yellow paint had been applied to the front and it covered all the metal hardware. I like getting the bulk of the old paint off the hardware by hand. It is time consuming, but saves a lot on wire wheels for the Dremel. Once the woodwork on the case has been sanded and repaired, where necessary, I can give all the metal parts a quick final clean with the small wire wheel and everything is ready for priming and painting a new Flat Olive Green top coat.

The Spare Parts Case is dimensionally larger than the Tool Box on all three axes, but carries an overall lighter load, being predominantly spare valves, fuses and light bulbs for the main 52-Set. Consequently, Canadian Marconi saved themselves some money by using the identical hardware items on both the Tool Box and Spare Parts Case: handles, latches, hinges and corner guards.


David

[David Dunlop]

The next thing I have to do on the Spare Parts Case is carefully sand down the lumpy runs of tan yellow paint on the inside lip of the case and lid. Fortunately, there are not many of them, I will also go over the edges of the lips, where necessary, to cover up the light green paint that found its way there.

It is important to get this done now and have enough time for the touch up paint work to hard cure as when it comes time to repaint the case, it is these two surfaces that the case will be resting on during painting and cure drying. So the sooner the work gets done, the better.

One other discovery at this point. I had assumed the KimPak padding in the Spare Parts Case was glued in place. However, the padding is in such great shape in this particular case I can easily see the small wire staples that were used about a half inch in around the perimeter of the padding to hold it in place.


David

[David Dunlop]

Another Stay Indoors day today, and a day off for me as well, so…’Bonus’!

I was able to sand down the lumpy paint runs along the edges of the lid and main body of the Spare Parts Box and give these edges a new coat of Flat Olive Drab. This is now the second wooden piece of the 52-Set Main Set for which the new paint has been an excellent match. It certainly does not hurt that these two cases/boxes have been closed for the vast majority of the last 80 years.

In this instance, the top surface of the wooden partition inside the case had no marks on it whatsoever. Note how well that factory paint matches the new paint.

Once the new paint has hard cured, in about 10 days, I will be able to close the case up without worry the newly painted surfaces might stick to each other, and proceed with the restoration process.


David

[David Dunlop]

Has anyone ever seen one of these publications? It was published by the Canadian Marconi Company and bears their Part Number, CMC 119-020.

Reference to this list shows up in the Master Parts List for the 52-Set, but nothing about it shows up at all in the Operator's Manual. I am assuming each 52-Set was issued with one so the printing run must have been on the order of 5,000 copies or so. I have no idea if the contents are identical the the list of items at the back of the Operators Manual for the Vehicle and Ground Installation, or perhaps just references just CMC Part Numbers for ordering directly from Canadian Marconi.

A bit of a mystery at this point.


David

[Bob Carriere]

....if you really want to keep your beer cold!!!!!!

You are a man of many talents.........

Went down to 7C last night..... the only cool place right now is inside the insulated barn..... and bug free!!!!!

Bob C