Monday, March 28, 2016 — I’m probably guilty of some violation of the sensibilities of Vibroplex fans and fanatics everywhere — tonight I wrapped up my efforts to touch-up the paint on the 100th Anniversary Vibroplex SN 100A-365.
Touch up? Paint? I know what you’re thinking: “Yee-Gads Zed Man, have you lost your marbles?”
Answer: It depends on who you ask.
Old SN 100A-365 was the key that arrived with a broken main spring requiring replacement of the keying lever. The keying lever had a bug tamer and weight installed on the tamer and the keying lever, and the broken parts banged up the rear edge of the base. The key also had small dings to the finish on several edges all the way around.
Now I left the key alone and just used it. But at my operating desk, the chips in the finish were very visible, despite their small size. Since this key is the one I’ve designated to stay at the operating position, I decided to throw caution (and common sense) to the wind and use some of my autobody skills (I owned a body shop in a previous life) to touch up the chips.
I purchased some quality gloss black enamel and tested a chip on the bottom edge of the back; the blacks were a match.
“Fixing” the small chips doesn’t require a paint brush; I use a toothpick. I start out with just a tiny bit of paint on the toothpick and transfer it to the chipped area. The goal is to avoid having too much paint to fill the chip.
Now my touch-ups on the key aren’t perfect; but I can tell you that the little chips that once were very visible are now only detected if you put the base under very close inspection. In the olden days in the body shop, I usually had larger chips to fix, and I used the end of a paper match stick cut on a diagonal to apply paint to the chip.
FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE. The paint on the 100th Anniversary Vibroplex Originals is very, very fragile, and as many owners discovered, it will chip easily if banged against something hard (like another bug sitting next to it, yikes!). I think some buyers thought if they bought the key, the finish on the base would also be like the japanned finish used before World War II.
I’ve decided on one of my old bugs, I’m going to refinish the base in the old time asphaltum, just to see if I can. We’ll see how that works, hi hi!
MORE RADIO ACTIVITY. I’ve compiled a list of CW nets on 80 meters than meet between 8 and 10 p.m., and I’ve decided I’m going to sit in on a few sessions and then check in on them. Right now I’m still using my Les Logan Speed-X Model 501. I’m still waiting for the touch-up paint to dry on ol’ Serial Number 100A-365.
73 es CUL de KY4Z SK … .dit dit…