Finally done. Originally posted back in May 2019 (a long time ago!). It's a bit different and I'll be interested in thoughts before I say more! (other than to thank Jeremy X246 for advice and support and Pete Sav for fixing the broken bail nuts and very kindly gifting me the shade which I think suits it well).
Was the hood top with the lamp? Looks like from an older 300. The one I have is different. Nice Lamp anyway Matthias
Looks correct to me, squat tank and Vapalux stamped hood, nice to have the original enamel top. I like the colour, my only comment would be that I think the air vents should be the hexagon ones. Nice lamp, well saved...
Thanks for the kind words! Gary, agreed re the air vents but the round ones are staying as part of the lamps history. With this, I wanted to retain the lamps originality despite the repaint. For reference below is what it looked like - 50-60% of the paint gone. I know that there is a big schism in outlook between the people that won't repaint any font and those that repaint for the sake of the slightest chip. Mostly I am nearer the former. However, most of the general public would regard our more characterful lamps as ideal things to put in a skip and who knows what happens to our beloved lamps once they've moved on elsewhere. No point preserving a patina if the lamp ends up in landfill because of it. So this one is my attempt to create a tidy but honest lamp that probably looks like it did in the fifties - well kept but not shiny. Hence the patina remains on the frame legs and hood (stove blacked), the brass is only polished to an extent that might be expected on a regularly used but not cossetted lamp and all the dents (quite a few more than I expected prior to stripping the tank) inflicted on the lamp by years of excited boys brigade members out camping in the lakes are to be seen as is all the solder spatter on the rim (which actually gets onto the main body of the tank!) - this can be seen in the last pic above. It was actually great fun to paint - I just sprayed on one coat of etch primer (I know not all will approve but I reckon it is microns of affect and probably much less than any going over with the wet and dry. And I hate painting things that chip when you give them a hard stare) and then, on the collar, put a coat of Rover Damask red on. That looked nice but too pale to me so I quickly added a coat of matt black enamel and put another fairly careless (perhaps as careless as the original paint job by Vapalux) coat of Damask red on top of that - no sanding, filling or anything. All done in a few minutes and the result is a very nice satin finish that looks quite like an old gloss finish and which perfectly matches the control cock button. That reminds me - I haven't actually done the mechanical fettle yet and the control cock grommet leaks. Fettle box seems only to have washers so I'll have to go to Ebay - is there a recommended seller there or one to avoid? Inside the tank it is almost spotless and the burner seemed to be clean as a whistle as well. I assume it has been replaced given the round air buttons - is there a way to tell? I was also really pleased at how the shade looks. I didn't expect the blue to go with the maroon but it does probably as they are similar in darkness of shade.
