Another Brown WE Refurb

[Jester]

Dennis asked that I post some information on my progress with this phone.  You may recall that I posted some shots of this Mahogany 501 on Dennis' thread that documented his work on his '57 500.  I've had this one for years and, because of it's condition, have never displayed it or attempted to repair it.  With some of the things I have recently posted, this may seem strange for me to say, but it's only been the last 6 months that I've had the courage to try this type of repair.

As I posted earlier, this cover had two really bad cracks at the rear of the cover ,and the handset cord had a break in the outer housing as well as being badly distorted from being stored with the phone resting on top of it.  The cord was the easiest repair-- I simply removed the outer housing in front of the break and slid the restraining grommet onto the next coil and replaced the crimp.  The cover was much more involved, and you'll notice in the pic that one crack all but disappeared, while the other is still visible over much of the break.  This actually happened while I was sanding the area around the crack to smooth out the repair.  The cause of this is due in part to the type of break-- this part cracked from the inside of the cover outward, which allowed the outer surface to tear instead of break cleanly.  Because of this, there were areas inside the break where, try as I did, the glue did not reach some spots & the open voids revealed themselves as I sanded.  I'm still considering how to mask this better, but I think you'll agree this is a vast improvement.

[Dennis Markham]

Stephen, that is a huge improvement!  As it is now it is ready for display.  I don't know what to use as filler for the missing material that you described.  I have heard where a piece of an inside support rib has been broken off and used as material, when mixed with acetone will make a paste in the color of the phone.  However with soft plastic you do NOT want to do this.  I have a Mediterranean Blue 500 that had a similar gaping crack.  Something heavy had been placed on top of the phone apparently causing quite a split.  I sent it to Dr. Jorge to attempt to make a repair using the Acetone method.  We were both learning at the time and I had nothing to lose.  What happens with soft plastic is that the plastic reacts to the Acetone by causing gas bubbles which distorts the plastic.  So for a hard plastic housing that method might work.  Some of Mark Scola's acrylic filler could probably be used but getting a color match would be very difficult.

Jorge could probably expound on the topic better than I as it was his experiment.  The result vastly improved the phone but it has a scar where the break had occurred. 

[Dan]

Very impressive Jester! I think turning the cord in the opposite direction and doing the "bake-freeze" method works even better than winding it the current wat it is. It's like the cord learns to sit a new way.

Your crack repair is impressive. Is this cyanoacrylate (superglue?) plus sanding?

[Jester]

Yes, Dan-- just superglue & elbow grease.  I haven't found anything that works better, especially on soft plastic.

[McHeath]

Fantastic work.  Before the amazing work seen on this forum I'd a thought that such a busted shell was junk. 

I've never glued anything on a shell before, but wonder if model cement would work.  As I recall from my youthful model making, it actually melted the plastic together, which could be a problem. 

[Dan/Panther]

If the case is hard plastic, I've had success pooling a small amount of lacquer thinner at the defect and used a Q-tip to move it around. It softens the surface and may blend in your voids.
D/P

[foots]

After seeing these seemingly miraculous repairs/refinishes I am starting to build up the courage to tackle both my black soft plastic phones. They only have a few scratches on them that'll require some sanding and are both free of cracks, but I'm still a little nervous about this.

[Jester]

I finally finished the rest of the cover & the other plastic parts, so this project is now back together.  I was able to improve on the crack repair in front of the rear base screw, so it is mostly invisible now.  Besides the cover damage, this set was missing the line cord & the cover under the lift wasn't mahogany.  For now, it is assembled with a cloth cord from a 302 & a black cover.

[HobieSport]

Wow, it looks great, Jester. And the brown cloth cord really ads an extra warm touch. Looking at this beaut makes me want to go out and eat some high quality dark chocolate...or something. Great work!

[Dennis Markham]

Stephen, that is an excellent transformation from what you had to what you have.  Great work.  I like that handset cord...looks great.  You should post the Before and After photos together so we can really see the fruits of your labor.  You've been a busy guy!  Nice job!

[McHeath]

Lots of work went into the refurb and it shows, really nice results!  I too like that nice fat and clean handset cord, very well done indeed, it's adds a great early 500 feel to the phone.  The cloth line cord is apparently ok as it was done in some cases, so maybe just leave it as it also adds to the early feel of the phone.  Just a really great job!