This 1955 Veritas Superb has taken about 9 months on and off to complete. I love the style of these lanterns and found one with the original glass in tact and the hood in good condition. The only issue with the lantern was the paint was very flaky and part of the distinctive Veritas logo was missing. I spent a long time recreating the design for the decal. Graphic design isn’t my forte and I only had Microsoft Publisher to work on. That considered I’m pleased with how it came out, it’s not an exact recreation but it’s as close as I could get it. I trialled a vinyl sticker but wasn’t happy with the finish. I trialled an inkjet waterslide on my home printer, it looked ok initially but I couldn’t seal it well enough and still leave it pliable enough to apply to the fount. Finally I went all in and found a professional waterslide printer who printed off a sheet of my design. The first application went well but I tried to apply a clear decal liquid film before the clear coat and it left an uneven finish. I wasn’t happy with it and having gone to all this trouble I stripped the fount again and started over. I lost a few months of winter temps too cold for outdoor spray painting. As spring came around I started again. This time I missed the liquid film stage and after applying the waterslide I went over it as normal with 3 coats of XHT clear lacquer. It came out really well. The rest of the rebuild was fairly straightforward apart from a completely seized valve that I had to soak in panel wipe for 3 days and then burn out the rubber. What a strange design. I replaced all the packings with graphite which worked well and will hopefully come out easier next time. The final stage was to modify a Tilley cleaning wire to fit. I left the collar and filler cap unpainted as I figured after a repaint and a knock off decal I could take some liberties with the final finish. I really enjoyed this one. A nice addition to the shelf.
@Scott D Wonderful job of making the Veritas Superb decal. Well done indeed and she is running well. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Norman
That decal look looks very close to me and really finishes it off! Well done! Are you taking orders for the decals?
Hi Colin, yes bar a couple of decals I’m hanging on to, I’m selling the remaining to try and recoup some of the printing cost. They work out at £7.50 each including UK postage. I have already sold 3 of them, 6 still up for grabs.
Good Morning, Well done on a lovely job with the superb lantern. I am trying to refurbish that exact model .I was just wondering by any chance would you have any more Decals left. Ciaran.
Just had a dig through the workbench drawers and I have found a couple I have left. PM me your address and I’ll put one in the post for you. I don’t know how waterslides age and they are a few years old now but you are welcome to give it a go!
