Painting and decorating. And also some cleaning.

[GeneGenie]

I've recently bought a phone on ebay (nothing particularly breathtaking) and it came to me in dodgy condition, caused by years of usage. Basically the paint has come off the ear bit and someone tried to paint it over although not very skilfully, I've been scratching it off to try to bring it to its original condition, as you can see in the photo, it doesn't look very nice and I've been wondering if I should do a proper job of repainting myself. The problem is that it's tricky kind of texture to re-create, it's not just a matter of sticking white paint over it, I'd like it to resemble the original as much as possible (you can see the original bits - it wants to look like crushed marble or something alike). Any suggestions? If there's nothing that can be done I'll just finish scratching the white paint off and that'll be it.
Also, the mouthpiece.. it's gone wrong, I don't think it's made of brass, I reckon it's some kind of metal and it appears to have moulded or something. How do I get rid of the green stuff? I want it to be clean and shiny again! I'd hugely appreciate any advice, I'm a complete novice to all the restoration business!

[GeneGenie]

A quick update - I seem to have found a solution to some of the problems. I have used a nail polish remover on the ear cap, sadly it has also removed the original layer of paint but it looks better now than it did before so I'm not particularly upset about that, I might have a go at re-painting it myself at some point. For the mouthpiece I figured the best way to get rid of the mould bits would be some metal-polish substance so I've used Brasso, it has removed most of it and brought back the shine and I think that's as good as it going to get. Here are the pictures and the phone in question.

[Contempra]

Nice Parisienne Gene.... The receiver's handset is adjustable if i'm not wrong......Why do you paint the ear cap ? it looks better now....and the mouthpiece can be cleaned with some brasso....


thank you for no reply ..

[twocvbloke]

The caps look like standard ones from a GPO handset no. 3 (Receiver cap No. 29A and Transmitter Cap No. 21A (not to be confused with Transmitter No. 21A!!)), you could probably swap them for some good ones while you experiment with painting...

[GeneGenie]

Yes, they do! And they fit perfectly as well! Why I never thought about that? Thanks twocvbloke!

[twocvbloke]

You're welcome, often it takes a second pair of eyes to see something that may have been missed, I was just looking at them and thought they looked familiar...

Of course, the phones were part of the special range of BT phones (the TSRs), so it's not surprising they used GPO/BT parts to cobble them together, probably to make it cheaper!!

But it does look odd with having one cap unpainted and the other all shiny, which they supplied as standard:

http://www.britishtelephones.com/tsr8028.htm

Still, there are paints you can buy that apparently give a chrome effect finish, never used them as I don't really know if they work or not...

[GeneGenie]

I don't think I'm likely to try them either. I like to keep my phones in as original condition as possible even if they do look a bit silly.

[Matilo Telephones]

Perhaps this can be of assistance, if you ever feel like restoring that crackele finish:

http://www.wikihow.com/Crackle-Paint

Nice job, by the way. Also on that metal part.

[GeneGenie]

Yes, this is precisely what I've been looking for! Thanks!

[Matilo Telephones]

Hahaha, it seems to me that not very often techniques are discussed here to artificially make things look old.

[GeneGenie]

I do feel slightly embarrassed to admit that I own a phone like that - a phone that is trying to look old, I know these kind of phones are often frowned upon on this forum. But I didn't go for this one by choice, it only so happens that it's part of BT Special Range Telephones which I've set out to collect. I'm not particularly bothered about the Romantic Collection phones but I wouldn't want my Special Range Collection to be incomplete, hence I must own all these ridiculous looking phones such as Padua, Verona, Parisienne, etc.

[twocvbloke]

When it comes to collecting, everyone has different tastes, like me and the Trimphone, I know i's vintage and quite collectable, but, I really don't like it, the tritium-tube dials are interesting (hence why I have one), but the phones themselves don't appeal to me...

[GeneGenie]

I feel very similar about Trimphones. I own a few as they are considered to have a revolutionary design so I gathered they deserve a place in my collection on that basis alone, but they're really only for decoration there. I never use them, they are very impractical in my opinion, I have many other phones that are much better when it comes to ease of use, they don't slide all over the place when you're trying to dial the number for starters. But each to their own..

[HarrySmith]

Gene, No phones are frowned upon! Any old phone is a good phone! They may not be popular with collectors like 37 302's are but they all have a place in someone's collection. I have a 70's chinese 2500 knock off in my collection. Not something eveyone would keep but I got it for the clear plastics. I will never get a real clear phone so I put the cheap plastics on a WE base. I like it! Whatever you like is a great collection!