I've finally got round to looking at my grandfather's lamp. It's a Vapalux 300X, which I've managed to light after some practice. The garage will never smell the same again.... My question is, should I leave it as it is for the authentic look or polish up the brass and/or repaint purple?
Ah, now you've gone and done it. There appear to be three schools of thought regarding lamps: 1. Do nothing except blow the dust off and change the seals and washers - it keeps it's character. 2. Restore the lamp to the condition it was in when it left the factory (or in the case of later Tilley lamps, in a better condition than when it left the factory). 3. Renovate the lamp by stripping and polishing. Option 1 is a non-starter for me as my wife would insist that any such lamp would be an affront to her interior design skills and have to live in the shed. My shed is small, damp, held together by zip-ties and is at the top of the garden. Most old lamps that are in a sorry state have become that way through living in a shed like mine. Option 2 will involve spray painting the tank at some point. My only attempt at spray painting was my bicycle when I was aged about 14. The result was so horrible that my mates made me ride 25 yards behind them. Also, most lamps seem to shed paint like the skin off an onion. If the manufacturer, with a skilled workforce and a large factory, can't get the paint to stick, what chance have I got in my shed? Option 3 is the best for me. It requires only basic skills, little cost, and the wife will allow it to live in a small space behind a pot plant in the lounge. However, I would only polish fairly common lamps. I would not polish a rare lamp. I'm not sure how common your's is, but I am sure there are others on the forum that will know. PS... A warm welcome to the forum.
Hello and welcome aboard! In my opinion, if this is going to be a working lantern, then I would make sure that none of the seals are leaking and that the lantern is working properly. Then I would clean the lantern and use it, Jeff.
Hi Nialls This is a great lamp. I am currently restoring one myself in the same colour. To answer your question about painting polishing etc I'd say do what ever YOU think looks best. I have'nt decided how I want mine to look when I've finnished so I intend to polish it all and then decide on painting. I think It's gonna look great either way and I will most certainly be lighting it. If you do decide to paint or polish it, It would be good to see pictures on here of the end result. Ozz
Welcome to the forum Nialls! I'm a newbie like yourself and have also just embarked on renovating a 300X, although mine has already been stripped back to brass, but has no glass and is in a very sorry state of repair. Your lamp seems to have a decent amount of paint left, so I'd personally would agree with Jeff on this one. It's up to you however! Just as an side (sorry to hijack the thread Nialls) but I see your lamp has a similar problem that mine suffers from; chronic tarnishing of the fount. I can't seem to shift the brown crud with wire wool, brasso, autosol or 400 grit wet/dry. I fear that sandpaper may be the only option unless anyone can advise me differently.
Hello Nialls, That 300X looks to me to be in very good original condition. I would recommend that you keep it as it is. Just gently clean it, change the seals as neccessary, make sure that you only put clean, filtered fuel in it, and it will work for ever. Welcome - Steve.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! What is this "brown crud" to which you object? I can't see any on Nialls lantern...
Hi Nialls if your happy with the original paint,which to me is in great condition for its age,but i would give it a good service by changeing all the seals and giving the inside the tank a good flush out,if you decide to strip the lantern and repaint the tank, then it is best to use a etching primmer first as paint does not adhere to well to brass, if you dont use the etching primmer then you only need to run your finger nail over the paint and it will remove it.the etching primmer etchies in to the brass to form a good foundation for the top coats i found this out when i painted a live steam model of a tank engine i was building,the manufactures recomended i use a etching primmer but i thought a good clean and degrease and a good key will be enough,but i was wrong had to remove all the paint and start again. But looking at your lantern a full service as mentioned and i would polish the filler cap and pump and any other naked brass on the lantern and give the paint work on the tank a nice clean and a polish with some car polish and your lantern would look beautifull
Good advoice Mr Optimus. That's yet another good option. Brass is beautiful and paint can be prety but being as close to original as possible is great too. Having many options is a good thing. Having no options would be boring.
Hi OZZY thank you for compliment i thought with the paint work on the tank nice and clean and with the other brass work polished the two whould realy set each other off,and yet keeping every thing as close to original as possible, that way you have the best of both worlds
The reason paint falls off lamps is because the manufacturers did not use an etching primer either and I don't recommend them because the word etch means to chemically alter the surface of the brass and what we are trying to do is preserve not encourage stress cracking at some future date. I know this means a new paint job may not be ideal but if you give it time to cure properly then it will look good and extend the life of its looks as well as acting as a preservative coat over the brass. You can oven cure most spray paints at around 160C and that will give a harder longer lasting finish. ::Neil::
Yes Mr optimus the paint and the brass would certainly look good together especially this colour. I think you've just talked me into painting mine. (The paintwork on mine was'nt that bad but it has to come off anyway as I need to repair a couple of leaks.) The 300x is a particularly nice lamp in my eyes
Hi OZZY if you have to repair a couple of leaks and the paint has come off, and your not happy with the paint work then thats the best way to go.but i would use a etch primmer first though as paint on its own does not adhere well to ferrous metals,when i painted the brass on my models i got my paint from a specialist livery company in chelmsford (Pheonix persision paints)they do all colour paints for model trains,if you cant get a colour match for your lantern,a good colour they do is Burrel maroon which is the colour of the steam traction engines,they do a size from one of those small airfix size,i am lucky to own a air brush and compressor which gives a realy good finnish but a good quality model brush and the paint thinned down a bit will produce a good finnish but with all the paint thinner etc it could cost around £10-15 it's not cheap.if you do decide to go that way and you are in the UK look up www.phoenix-paints.co.uk and give them a call they will advise you good luck with your restoration and i will look forward to seeing your 300X restored
I forgot to mention and never noticed Mackburners response, a good point the etching primmer is a acid based paint that etches it self into the surface,so it would chemically alter the outer brass which i did not realise untill Mackburner pointed it out a verry good point there, and it could easiley cause tress cracking in the future,which does not matter very much on anything that is not to be pressureised and just for show, but on a lamp or stove that is filled with flamable fuel and is to be used is a issue and the advice given i would go with you may need to repaint from time to time to keep the lamp prestine but now i would sooner do that. What i forgot to mention is enammel paint's do give a good tough finnisn but even though they may be dry and hard after a day or two they are not fully cured and may not be able to resist the fuel that is used so any spillages on the new paint will be spoilt by the fuel which is very simmular to the solvent in the paint,so the paint will need to be cured to resist any damage to the fuel this could take any thing from several days yo weeks,to test the paint is fully cured i would paint a scrap peice of material the same time as the lamp, and after a few days i would put a drop of fuel on a peice of cloth, and wipe the painted surface of the scrap material and if any colour comes off on to the cloth it is not cured i would wait untill no colour comes off the material before filling and useing the lamp
Thanks for the advice Mr Optimus. I will be looking upPheonix Paints as I have several jobs that need specialist paints
Thank you all for your replies, whic for a newbie have been very helpful. As I'm going to use the lamp the plan is to polish the brass and paintwork and see how it goes. I might though as I get familiar with the forum re-paint it at a later date. I will post a pic of the polished lamp. Ok now that I've sorted that out I'm going to post a thread about changing seals as I think I may have a leak.
Hi Nials good decision if you do decide to re paint the tank,and the paint is in good sound condition,i would just give it a very gentle rub down with the finest grade of wet and dry 1500 grit wetted so it will give a good clean key and knock off any imperfections yet not go down to the brass,it will then all so leave the finish with a matted sheen so when you re paint you know where you have painted or not,good luck with your restoration and i will look forward to seeing it finished and working
Hi, As promised pictures of my refurbished and cleaned Vapalux 300X. Scroll to top to see how it was. The seals have been changed and I've cleaned and polished it. Unfortunately while trying to clean the besmirched glass it cracked on me; so bought a new one. Very annoying but I had to apply pressure to get it clean. Old glass.... New glass looks like it's much better made. It's working great now (no leaks) and the kids seem to like it. Looking forward to using it properly on holiday at Easter. The lantern is now proudly sitting on a shelf in the conservatory. It looks great but I'm still not 100% sure about having not re-painted it......
Now that looks better ! That is a nice balance between polishing whats exposed whilst leaving the originality of the fount, Good decision IMHO Enjoy your hard work on your easter break
