After what to me is some success in renovating a couple of old Tilley 246B's, with loads of help from the good people on here, and successfully re-fettling a 'shot' vapouriser with a hammer on one of them, I have fallen victim to curiosity... A couple of days ago while I was perusing EBAY, a little gremlin was sitting on my shoulder and he 'made me' bid on a slightly scruffy but complete looking green Bialaddin 310. I just liked the shape of it, and from my earlier tour of the the reference gallery on here, it looks as though might have the original glass too - with smoothly curved bottom. I'm waiting for it to arrive and hoping its complete, and that the glass survives the postal system. I only bid £14.22 (plus a reasonable postage charge) so i'm not expecting too much!
Yes, it certainly sounds like you have an original globe, which is worth the purchase price and delivery cost alone...
Thanks David - fingers crossed that it arrives intact... I'll post a pic' or two in 'as received' state before I clean it and replace all the seals. With a bit of luck it the tank will be structuraly sound too. I don't know why but I particularly like the shape of the Bialaddin 310's
Its arrived, and the glass survived the postal system! I'm happy with it and pleased that it looks as though it may have the original glass too? Not bad for £14.22... Photo below of it 'as received...
My favourite of all the Bialaddin lanterns. Don't really know why except I just like the look of them. That was a real bargain. The globe is worth more than you paid for the whole thing. ::Neil::
Yes I like the style of these too... On the down side you always end up overfilling the meths cup because you can't easily see when it's full.
Thanks for the warning about flooding the meths cup Gneiss I'm looking forward to fettling this one...
I've given it a clean up, replaced all the seals and pump washer and done a low pressure test burn, which looked promising (photo below). Put a mantle on but it Developped a hole straight away with a jet of flame threatening the nice original glass, so shut it down pronto to let it cool down - glass is ok! Will try again tomorrow with a new mantle
What mantle did you use, I find vapalux v42 mantles can be a bit on the weak side, but if you get a good un, they are fine.
Like Concorde, the flames 'lift off' and hang in space below the burner with a few extra pump strokes! The mantle was a V42 bought from a reputable supplier and the others i've used from the same batch are working fine. I guess I was just unlucky with this one. I'm just glad the nice original glass with the Bialaddin mark survived unmarked - i'll use a normal modern glass when I re-test it
