Hi fellas, I’ve restored a Mewa 361L, ? Going by what I’ve read on the forums, Very cool lanterns. It has some quality parts. It was showing its age and a sad looking state, it cleaned up very easily and good, I could never get it shine as all them parts were rusted and flaking, I need blasted all the parts and painted with ultra high temperatures paint 700 + c. The parts are nice and well presented to make the lantern smart and proud again. Before and after original condition and broken down into parts. I had noticed that the top hat was showing stress cracks and that it was quite fragile/ brittle. I had an issue with the NRV not wanting to come out. I tried a few of the old tricks but no. I removed the pump tube the NRV still in it, I accessed the bottom part of the NRV replaced the pip and spring then re soldered it back into place. all the parts are cleaned and painted ready to be reassembled. thanks fellas for you contributing to the lantern gallery where I found out some interesting reading. VERY COOL
@Darryl Durdin Well done! These are very solid and reliable lanterns when properly restored and maintained. The NRV's gasket on these lanterns is made of aluminum. If this corrodes, there is almost no chance of getting the NRV out, as you have already experienced. Some lye might help dissolve the aluminum and its oxidized residue, as it will not attack the pump tube or the NRV. However, it would not have been necessary to braze the pump tube. This place does not get so hot, which is why it is usually soft soldered.
@Darryl Durdin Recognition and respect for your successful restoration Yes it is a VEB 361 The most striking disthinguishing features of VEB 351 and VEB 361 are : 351 -J-tube with brass burner and burner sieve, in rare cases also with iron burner with burner sieve. -Igniter with large diameter. -Large ignition hole with flap. 361 -J-tube with iron mixing chamber and clay burner. -Igniter with small diameter. Small ignition hole without flap. Reinhard
Well done Darryl! That is a top fettle there.. hard to believe it’s the same lantern was it the steel part of the hood that was stress cracked ?? cheers
How very strange.. I would have thought there was no chance of that happening with all the heat it must have been subjected to ?
