Cracked blue 302

baldopeacock · January 02, 2011, 02:58:11 PM

ET, you are ze Arteest.

Tom B · January 02, 2011, 04:07:20 PM

Gorgeous work....

ETS1979 · January 05, 2011, 08:20:56 PM

Good news! The handset plastic was not like the case plastic at all. I was able to polish it to a high lustre with no fine scratches and none of the scuffing I had so much trouble with on the case. I know it is probably difficult to see in the photos but the handset does look quite a lot better than the case. There is one visible flaw in the handset, however. If you look in the upper left hand corner of the handset you can see a small white spot. It looks like there was a bubble in the plastic. I did not want to polish it out for fear of having to go too deep into the plastic and end up distorting the contour of the surrounding area. I cleaned out the white polish residue you see in the bubble to help reduce its visibility a little.

baldopeacock · January 05, 2011, 11:25:05 PM

That's shinier than my bald spot, if that's possible. Looks great, ET. Put that baby together, let's see the finished product. How about a good look under the hood while you're at it?

JorgeAmely · January 06, 2011, 11:00:59 AM

ETS:

You are setting the phone restoration standards way high. I think we should be warned about highly polished phone parts to give us a chance to put shades on.

ETS1979 · January 08, 2011, 04:07:17 PM

Another step forward. I completed polishing of the little pieces shown in the photo. I included a before and after picture of the plungers. Total time spent polishing these items was about 3 hours.

HarrySmith · January 08, 2011, 04:11:20 PM

WOW, very nice

I never tried polishing fingerwheels or plungers. What do you use on them?

ETS1979 · January 08, 2011, 05:48:33 PM

I usually follow the same routine with clear plastic pieces as I do with the colored ones. I start with 800-1000G sandpaper and move up through 3000G and then switch to rubbing compound and then a cleaner wax. The exception to this was the above mentioned problem with the scuffing marks that appeared with fine polishing. While I was experimenting with this problem I discovered a pretty good rubbing compound. Mequier's "Ultimate Compound" cuts pretty well without leaving scratches.

ETS1979 · January 10, 2011, 08:19:53 PM

I have now reinstalled the dial and switchhook assembly. All that is left to do before final reassembly is to polish the two receiver caps. The end is in sight!

baldopeacock · January 11, 2011, 09:35:37 AM

Can't wait to see the finished product, ET.

ETS1979 · January 19, 2011, 07:29:56 PM

Another step forward. I finished polishing this handset cap today. There are a few hairline cracks. Other than that the polishing was uneventful... On another subject, I have a phone listed on Ebay. (150551006866) It is a 1941 dated Ivory 302 that I have had for several years. I recently acquired another so I am selling this one. See "auction talk" for details on the recently acquired one. (Ivory bidding contest started by Baldopeacock)

HarrySmith · January 19, 2011, 07:34:14 PM

Fantastic job!
Was that Ivory one at the Maitland show?

ETS1979 · January 19, 2011, 07:51:35 PM

I have unfortunately never been to a phone show, so if it was there, it would have been before I owned it.

HarrySmith · January 19, 2011, 08:00:27 PM

OK, I was looking at one last week at the show that looked just like that one!

ETS1979 · January 22, 2011, 04:01:14 PM

It's finished! I have lots more pictures but I don't want to blow up the forum server!! So I will post just a few for now. I was pleased with the way my homeade photo shop dial card turned out. It matches pretty well and looks fairly realistic. The phone number was obscured for privacy reasons, but I think you will get the idea.

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Cracked blue 302