Thanks Martin and I'm currently rescuing a Vapalux 300 (brass tank), originally it would have looked like the one which is shown via the link below, but this one was a wreck when I obtained it and all going well it will end up being rebuilt but with a mixture of parts from various Willis & Bates lanterns. ROBBO55 Vapalux 300
Once again it's been quiet on the lamp front here. So I fettled some common lanterns with parts which I had in storage, they are a bit rough but they should do the job. The Tilley Guardsman lantern does work and the Willis & Bates lanterns are ready for testing.
Here is the first of the Rough Brigade lit. The first vapouriser which I tried had an enlarged jet, however the second one is currently okay.
Hello fellow lampers, thanks for the positive comments. The mantle which I fitted to that lantern was a genuine Vapalux mantle which I removed from the sealed packet, but the mantle had been poorly made, the weave was loose and the bottom hole was a bit wide and a hole developed in the mantle after the lantern had been lit for an hour or so, some other Vapalux mantles have narrow holes and will not fit onto Vapalux burners, but they are okay for Tilley burners. Those Vapalux mantles were fairly modern ones and perhaps I obtained a bad batch, has anyone else had a bad batch?
I tried another one of those Vapalux mantles and it looked better made and it fitted and formed properly, but a hole appeared in it as soon as it was burned off.
Here is the second of the Rough Brigade lit I used an old Veritas branded Vapalux mantle this time and so far it has not developed any holes.
It's quiet with me too. But they are still out there because my nephew found a Tilley VL1 in a junk shop a couple of weeks back. Most annoying!
I recently obtained a Hipolito lantern, but it has been sitting in a shed for many years and is therefor in need of a good overhaul and a glass and a pricker. The photo which is shown below is from the Ebay listing.
I have had one failure with the Rough Brigade lanterns, the black Vapalux tank tested okay when I gave it a dunk test, but with paraffin in it and under pressure it started to leak from the solder seam around the base plate of the tank, paraffin is more searching than air.
Hello fellow lampers, the stripped brass Bialaddin tank is also leaking, so that's two failed Willis & Bates tanks and two working tanks which is okay and I now have some useful spare parts again. I still have two Tilley Guardsman lanterns and a Hipolito lantern to fettle.
Here is the first of the two Guardsman lanterns lit, I tested it without a glass fitted because the mantle has a small hole in it and those holes create a hot spot on the glass which causes the glass to break.
Hello Brian, I'm glad that this topic is of interest to you and the main reason for lighting that lantern was to test the burner, it appears to be a 1950's burner which has not been used much and those are becoming scarce, it was in such fine condition that I was able to completely dismantle it, there was very little muck on it but I cleaned it thoroughly anyway. It will be quite a while before I post photos of the second Guardsman lantern, it's from the early 1950's and it has a plated tank, but it requires a lot of TLC., and it's to cold to be in the shed for long just now and it's the same for the Hipolito lantern. During the last few days the weather has turned very wintry here, the wind is blowing mostly from the north and there has been frost and wet snow and hail showers and those showers have been horizontal because of the flying freezing cold gale and the highest hills have white caps. Buggerlugs
