aqua 500 refurb

[david@london]

i bought a soft aqua 500 from yebay which arrived yesterday from pennslylvania. ...posted monday, delivered friday - not bad !

it is dated 1/59 on the base, 12 58 in the shell & 59 on the curly cord.

this is a project phone......it is currently in pieces in a large tupperware box. i have snapped a 'before' photo. the cord has been thru the dishwasher with its endings protected by plastic bags & is now wrapped round 2 pencils, pending dowel rod. the colour is hugely better.... but not quite back to the original.

the price was originally $69 but as i discovered that one of the cradle ears has been broken off & glued back, the seller refunded me $42 of the price.

i'm miffed to find this damage but the break seems to have been repaired pretty well & i'm hoping to make it all but disappear.

there is a tiny chip missing at the front of the cradle ear  -pls see photo-  & i was wondering whether i could repair this by dissolving a small bit of plastic in acetone & patching in, then sanding. i read about this on cihensley's post about a black mushroom phone. but is it definitely ok to use this technique on soft plastic ??

thanks for any help/suggestions !

david

[david@london]

i sanded the phone with various grades of micromesh pads, then polished. the cord has retained some its green hue so there is a slight difference in colour between it and the phone.

still have the small chip on the right cradle ear to deal with.........and needing to find a suitable line cord. also need to print the numbercard again which came out very blurred. overall pretty pleased with my 1st attempt at refurbing though.

[Dan/Panther]

David;
You've done a very nice job on the finish of the phone, and the cord looks much better. Have you gotten it to work, and have you done anything with the inside ?
D/P

[david@london]

thanks dan. i haven't really done anything to the inside other than a bit of light cleaning as everything was functioning ok when i received the phone.

i cleaned  -without dismantling-  the dial mechanism with q tips and electrical contact cleaner as it was sticking. a couple of drops of 3in1 in the spots shown in dennis' post on dials. works great now.

[LarryInMichigan]

David,

Your sanding/polishing came out beautifully.

Larry

[david@london]

cheers larry.........

have been wanting an aqua 500 ever since i got the phone bug back in december. i  think my collection's pretty much complete.....................now numbering a whole 8 phones    ....!

the aqua sits alongside a v nice green WE 591. both 1959 vintage.

[twocvbloke]

I'm not brave enough to try sanding my red 500, all I've done so far is clean it, fix the cracked shell, and given it a once-over with Peek polish, so it's shiny, but still has bumps and scrapes here and there, I just consider it as part of it's character...

[david@london]

......i agree with you that sometimes a few bumps or scrapes can be part of an old phone's character. i have a black 500 which has a few dings and bumps.

with the blue phone, for me, it's all about restoring the original colour. cracks though i feel do detract. i'm going to try out the method of repairing the chip on this one by patching in with a bit of plastic from an inside rib ....dissolved in acetone, blu-tak creating a small dam around the area while it sets. i saw this in a post by cihensley and i think it will be fun to try.......especially if i get it right ! the chip on the cradle ear is about 3mm across................a nice tiny job for a beginner.

[cihensley@aol.com]

I have dispensed with the blu-tack dam on recent restorals. I 've found if I am reasonably careful I don't need the dam. Use a very thin mixture. Ten or more times acetone to plastic. It takes many applications of the mixture (I use a small natural bristle artist brush - to dab, not paint on the mixture) To built up the plastic because the mixture is so thin, but it eliminates bubbles I get with thick mixtures.

Chuck

[david@london]

yr feedback is very much appreciated. looking at the chip in the photo, how many applications do you think i should be thinking of putting on ? and if i don't use the blu tak, will  the dissolved plastic stay where it's  meant to ?  i  was thinking of a thicker mixture, thanks for the info.

david

[cihensley@aol.com]

Hold or prop-up the phone so the area you are patching is pointed straight up. If you don't dab on too much it shouldn't run in an area you don't want it to. Dab drops - don't paint - into the damage. After you dab the complete area, let dry for about 3 minutes - it dries fast - then repeat process. I usually do this about ten times then let dry for about fifteen minutes. Then repeat the 3 minute cycles again. I am not not sure  about the number of application it will take to build up the plastic to the surrounding area. I just keep doing it until it appears built-up sufficiently. If I were to guess. I would say 50+. Let dry overnight then sand. This may reveal a low spots or a bubble that calls for further application. Do patiently, sand with increasingly finer grits of micro-mesh, polish - you will have a hard time seeing the damaged area.

Chuck

[david@london]

thanks for that detailed description of the process, chuck. i'll certainly give it a try.

david