Here is my AL 21. I've been working on it for quite some time, and wanted to finish before the austral winter solstice. I finished it today - the shortest day for 2014 in the south. Here it is as I received it: The parabolic reflector: I use VHT brand high temperature black paint, after treating the rust with rust converter. I over-coated with VHT clear coat. I baked the bits with solder at 94C and the bits without solder at 200C As I intend to use this lamp, I didn't go the "sandblast' route. I just wanted it to be functional. Here it is alight in the middle of the day: I kept the back plate as I found it, except for gentle cleaning then protecting with baked clear-coat. The labels are in quite good nick: I need to go and light this lamp because it's dark, and it's the winter solstice down here - so more pics tomorrow.
G,,day Tony . i have been outside several times looking for the bright southern light shining in the sky to no avail now lets not let a little thing like 200 plus kilometres ruin it for me seeing it ok i will be serious , looks very nice how bright and how far and broad a beam does it throw ??? hopefully one night i may see it . i was going to ask you about it the other night but you were summoned to something important , possibly food . i do like the fact the original labels are still there cheers kerry
Some notes on this fettle. This was a pretty straightforward fettle, except for the paint job. The lamp arrived with fuel in the tank, and hadn't been lit for decades - but it lit up straight away with the old fuel. I just cleaned all the burner bits with carburettor cleaner and replaced all of the seals, washers etc with ones from The Fettle Box. The AL21 mantle came from The Base Camp.
A very beautiful example Tony.... Well done. How did you come across this unit ? And what is its history?
I bought it from a chap in South Australia. He'd bought it thirty five years ago and not used it: that's why it still had fuel in the tank. When I got it home, I lit it: http://0flo.com/index.php?posts/40200 Cheers Tony