Hi All I’ve just finish fettling a Coleman L327 dated 8 1, representing January 1928. The before picture: I’m had a lot of fun with the old original nickel plating on the frame and I have worked at it with my newly built up nickel plating setup. When adding plating to the frame, I only plated the steel that was exposed when removing the rust. Even after a close inspection it’s very hard to see where the nickel has been newly deposited, so I haven’t destroyed the patina, albeit, it’s clean now. Although it probably used a Q99 loop type generator originally, I’ll be used the old R55 generator that came with it, I like to use as much of the stuff that comes with the lamps before resorting to replacing with new, I have a Q99 on standby. All the parts were cleaned, repaired and new graphite seal installed to the valve shaft. I had to lathe up a new graphite seal retaining ring. On dissembling the valve, the original ring shot off the shaft and disappeared into that black hole in the universe that lives in our sheds that mysterious powers have put there to devour small and vital parts. The valve control wheel displays a “F” that indicates the wheel was manufactured in 1927 that is consistent with the lamp being built in January 1928. Now the money shot. It’s sporting one of Fred Kuntz’s excellent mica chimneys. The 327 in action. It lit very easily, I used a butane torch to preheat it. I’m very happy with it. Cheers Pete
A real great lantern! You really have to search like hell to find a lantern as easy as this to restore. The Q99 was the original generator on these but later on Coleman recommended the R55. These give you the ability to clean the tip without removing the generator. Your plating is really great!
@george Thanks George, I searched for one of these and I was very lucky to find this one. I have a Q99 generator for it as a standby however I found it with the R55 and I like to use the parts I found with the lamp. I was able to resurrect the R55 and it works well. One day, maybe, I’ll try the Q99, I’m not in a hurry coz the R55 is working very well. Cheers Pete
That looks stunning, your nickel plating set up is well handy for restoring lamps and makes a huge difference to the finished lamp. keep up the good work.
