Novice looking for a little information

[Dennis Markham]

Beautiful phone Vini!  You did a great job with it.  Tell us about your painting technique.  What did you use?  Did you strip off the old paint?  Great job!

[Doug Rose]

I agree with Larry, there is no need to paint bakelite. Steel wool and Avon Skin so Soft and it will shine like new.....Doug

Doug;
How often if ever, do you need to reapply the Skin So Soft ?
D/P

D/P....it depends on how dry your bakelite was. Bakelite being porous, will keep sucking in the skin so soft the same way very dry wood will suck in stain. I ususally apply it once and never apply again. Then again, I am not looking for the see youself in the mirror shine some collectors like to have their phones look. I guess, it depends on what you are looking for in the shine level....good luck....Doug

[Dan/Panther]

Doug;
I know you've mentioned that the parts give off a very pleasant aroma, but are they slippery or sticky in any way /?
D/P

[Doug Rose]

I always wipe off the excess and it is not slippery once it dries. I leave it on approx 24 hours and wipe off any residue that is left. i don't mind the smell, others hate it. Its sweet smelling, like a gardenia....Doug

[foots]

Wow, that SC turned out very nice. What type and what brand paint did you use? Did you do any special prep work or use any special painting techniques to get that finish?

[Vini]

Hi Guys.
Thanks for all the positive comments, very kind of you all.

Jorge. Got the handset cord & dial set (original was very badly bent) from Oldphoneworks.
Thanks Larry I'll give contact cleaner a go.
Dan. I looked at your AE40 pictures. Our two ringer kits do look identical don't they? Neat kit it is too. Fitting neatly in to the bell as it does. I wonder if it was some kind of mail order kit you could purchase back then and add to non ringer phones.
Dennis and Foots.
I stripped all the old paint off, boy was it tough to shift. Used a propriety paint stripper available over here called Nitromors. You coat the paint you wish to remove with a thick layer of this stuff, I then seal it in a plastic bag (stop it drying) for an hour or so, then go at it with wire wool. Took about 5 cycles to get all the paint off. All that wire wooling gave the body a very good finish.
I then passed it onto a friendly contact who has a paint shop. For a bottle of wine did the following:-
Glass bead blasted; Two-pack etch primer. Then, believe it or not, Powder Coated High gloss black and baked for 10 min @ 190 C.

Vini

[LarryInMichigan]

I then passed it onto a friendly contact who has a paint shop. For a bottle of wine did the following:-
Glass bead blasted; Two-pack etch primer. Then, believe it or not, Powder Coated High gloss black and baked for 10 min @ 190 C.

That sounds to me like cheating

[Vini]

Sorry? I dont understand.

[Phonesrfun]

He was probably lamenting that he did not have a professional powder coat painter handy that he could trade a bottle of wine for a paint job.

Sure looks nice.

-Bill Geurts

[McHeath]

Wow!  You certainly got your bottle of wines worth.  I've wondered about having phone professionally painted and or powder coated, yours seems to look flawless and probably will hold up really well. 

[foots]

  I never even thought about powder coating. I'm going to have to look into doing that on my SC phones.

[jeremylivin]

Wow, it looks great!

The powder coating should last longer than any coat of paint would.

[Dennis Markham]

I have heard some long-time collectors say the in their opinion Powder Coating ruins the phone.  I don't know the details but it has something to do with the method used in order to powder coat.  Perhaps someone with more experience with painting can elaborate on this??

[LarryInMichigan]

Dennis,

How would it ruin the phone?  Do you mean in terms of its authenticity and value?  If that's the case, I can see that one would want to avoid doing it on a rare, valuable phone, but in this particular case, the phone wasn't especially rare or valuable in the first place.

Larry 

[Dennis Markham]

Larry, it had something to do with the process.  I don't know how it's done.  I just remember hearing conversation about it.  Like some type of electrical wire/clip is connected to the item (I'm thinking like a D1 body) that caused detail on the edge, where Western Electric is stamped.  Again, I don't know details, just wondered if anyone else had heard about this.  I guess I'll check back with those I heard this from for more details.