18-07-2011, 10:21 PM
Looks a good 'un!
Fortunately, it's not a difficult task to make a new dial - or rather to strip the existing one, spray it matt cream, apply lettering and numbering with rub-down transfers (WH Smith, Rymans etc), then spray with a few light coats of acrylic gloss lacquer. You need to go easy on that, or the lettering will float off. The rotating disc only need one line on it, which again, you can use rub-down transfers for - lower case letter l's or upper case I's for.
As to the red metalising missing from the valve, I've found that if the rest isn't flaking off, the best way to deal with it is to use silver conductive paint which comes in little tubes for such tasks as repairing heated rear windows in cars. Google it on e-bay - don't go to car spares places which charge the earth for this stuff. A little goes a long way, and if you give the missing area of metalising several coats, it will come up to the level of the remaining metalising. You can then mask off the valvebase and upper clear glass and valve ID text, then spray the valve with red primer, which is a very good match to the red finish of the valve.
Hope that's useful.
David
Fortunately, it's not a difficult task to make a new dial - or rather to strip the existing one, spray it matt cream, apply lettering and numbering with rub-down transfers (WH Smith, Rymans etc), then spray with a few light coats of acrylic gloss lacquer. You need to go easy on that, or the lettering will float off. The rotating disc only need one line on it, which again, you can use rub-down transfers for - lower case letter l's or upper case I's for.
As to the red metalising missing from the valve, I've found that if the rest isn't flaking off, the best way to deal with it is to use silver conductive paint which comes in little tubes for such tasks as repairing heated rear windows in cars. Google it on e-bay - don't go to car spares places which charge the earth for this stuff. A little goes a long way, and if you give the missing area of metalising several coats, it will come up to the level of the remaining metalising. You can then mask off the valvebase and upper clear glass and valve ID text, then spray the valve with red primer, which is a very good match to the red finish of the valve.
Hope that's useful.
David
