Revo 'Sol-d'Or' C15152 - Restoration

I set to work on the lantern's restoration immediately after taking the preliminary photographs. Despite the bracket being able to be removed, the grub screws were seized, as was the large screw that fastened the internal spine to the shoe. Therefore, the shoe was sent away to have these problems rectified. In the meantime, I filled in the photocell hole in the canopy.

Whilst I was pleased that the hole had been filled, I now had a canopy with a 20 mm diameter green spot (incidentally, the same green that Suffolk paint their equipment!) to one side. I decided to repaint the canopy in order to hide both this repair and also the crazing in the plastic. Obviously I was concerned that the paint could accidentally spill onto the bowl, and so I came up with a method to (hopefully!) prevent this from happening:

I simply wrapped paper over the outside of the bowl, and secured it with masking tape! Anyone fancy a game of 'Pass the Parcel'?

Fortunately, the paper was successful in preventing the bowl from being painted. After applying seven separate coats of white gloss paint to the canopy (using a product that would adhere to a plastic surface), I left the lantern to dry out for several days.

Surface corrosion on the copper retaining spring was removed.

The shoe returned from receiving new grub screws, new lampholder support screws and new internal spine support screws on Monday, 16th November 2009. I temporarily attached the shoe to an AC Ford AC872 wall bracket on the same date in order to gauge whether the bracket would need to be moved or not.

I was keen for the lantern to be operated on 'authentic' gear - this BLI AME 53182.T ballast (complete with wattages for SO/H, SOI/H and pre-rated SOX lamps) proved ideal for such a requirement.

The shoe and spine were then sent off for bead blasting and a repaint:

The components returned from being refurbished on Friday, 27th November 2009. I created a new gasket using a length of adhesive foam - this fitted snugly into the channel around the edge of the shoe.

The previously rusted spine cleaned up very well indeed.

The following animation shows some of the internal components being reattached to the lantern; the cover previously fastened to the Thorn Escort bulkhead was used as a makeshift storage tray for these items during the restoration:

As part of the restoration, the old asbestos-sheathed wiring to the lampholder was replaced with modern PVC wiring sheathed in heat-resistant sleeving. The lampholder itself was cleaned up - doing so revealed that it actually carried Revo branding. The insulation surrounding the lamp support was found to be too brittle to move in one piece and thus was left alone.

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