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Post Info TOPIC: working with putty now
jor412


Vintage

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working with putty now
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Just want to share some useful links.

I bought two vintage pens in so-so shape -- nothing that a good polishing and re-sacing wouldn't fix. But after closer inspection, I found they had some deep scratches in them. There was no way to just polish off the scratches so I did some research and decided to try epoxy putty and paint -- basically, the same way model makers repair / make their models. There's also resin which seems to have the convenience of adding color to the resin before application but it's substantially more expensive here. 

I'm done with the applying-and-sanding-the-putty-stage. The putty is pretty cool. After working with increasingly finer grits, it ends up shiny like plastic. (I should've attempted to find acrylic dye and mix it with the putty but I was afraid of uneven coloring.)

I've prepped the sections for primer by covering parts I don't want painted with masking tape. For the interior of the section, I rolled up some paper and stuck the rolls in the sections. And then mounted both sections on chopsticks so I can stand them up and paint them that way. 

Among others, these two sites were helpful:

1) http://www.coololdgames.com/projects.html

2) http://www.odysseyhouseonline.com/VMFF_Tutorials_03.html



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DWL


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VERY interesting indeed. I'd love to see pics of the process.

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jor412


Vintage

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Hi Dennis, Ok if I can get my camera to work right, I'll take pics. :)

I forgot: here's a useful link on painting -

http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=35



-- Edited by jor412 on Saturday 20th of August 2011 11:00:51 PM

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jor412


Vintage

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I haven't started the painting yet because it has been raining on and off w/ very little sun creeping in.

I have another related project I'm considering and would like opinions. I found a really beat-up Parker 51 gold-filled aeromatic with a surprising broad nib. It says "1/10 14 KT Gold-filled" on the cap. (Side question: what does the 1/10 mean? Is that a date code?)

Beat-up = lots of dings and worn plating. I checked the cost of re-plating the pen and it's just way beyond anything I'm willing to spend. 

But I can "restore" the pen using putty and paint. It won't be "authentic" but it will look quite decent. 



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jor412


Vintage

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I finally got the camera to work in a half-decent manner. Anyway, below is where I am now. The sections are prepped for painting. Chopsticks are hidden. I need to refine the sanding a bit more. They look awful at this stage.

 

waitingforapaintjob.jpg



-- Edited by jor412 on Wednesday 24th of August 2011 11:23:51 PM

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DWL


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You have my attention!

This is really cool. I'm excited to see how the finished product comes out.

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Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito
~Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them

jor412


Vintage

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It took me a while to work on this because I had to be in the mood to redo the putty and resand it since it takes a lot of patience and looking through the loupe and sanding with different grits. But I did finish, painted them with grey primer, let dry for a day, painted them black, let dry for another day, painted them with top coat. I can't take pics but the finished product looks pretty smooth.

I had to repaint a few times when I saw some problems. Some pitfalls, in case anyone wants to try this:

1) It's very easy to use too much putty and not sand enough off, so you end up with a section that was wider than the original and looks awkward on the barrel. The average person won't notice it but you will because you were working on it for some time.

2) Clean up the section part that had masking tape on it because it'll cause problems when you try to stick in the barrel. I forgot this basic thing.

I'm working on an Esterbrook SJ jewel. The pen cap has a broken original jewel in it. The jewel must have already been damaged and the repair person must have attempted to pull it out because what was left was a squarish stump in the middle. I'm trying to build a jewel with putty on top of this original jewel. I've already gotten it to more or less original looking shape. My problem now is the painting. I'm on my 2nd attempt. Because I'm working with such a tiny thing and such little leeway, the masking tape gets in the way of some edges so after removing the tape, there are spots near the bottom that aren't painted.

I'm happy about the overall look. Unless you put it side by side with another Estie SJ cap, or unless you look really closely, you can't tell it's a fake biggrin

I'm considering two options to solve the unpainted spots:

1) Hand-painting the blank spots, which will of course mean some unevenness in the paint job

2) Building a jewel on a chopstick, painting it, then attaching it - This will be difficult because I have to get it the right size and shape to make it fit. I may attempt to do this just for "fun" after doing #1. 



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Frank


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The SJ jewel repair sounds like a great project Issy!
I hope you have pics of it when you are finished!

Frank

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jor412


Vintage

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Hi Frank, I'm dying to take pics but my camera has just been uncooperative. As soon as I can I'll post something here :)

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grandmia


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Hi...Wow your putting a lot of time and effort into your repairs it would be nice to see the finished item.....



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jor412


Vintage

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I'll take a pic of the section I fixed this way and post it this weekend. I haven't gotten back to working on the Estie jewel. My first attempts were so-so and I'd like to try a different method that'll produce better results.

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jor412


Vintage

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Sorry for the lousy pics. I don't know if the details are visible enough. Below is the Vac Fill I fixed. This pen was badly beat up. The plastic was dull, the clip and band were dirty, the filling mechanism was shot, the section had deep scratches. Thankfully the nib and feed were in great condition. 

I repaired the filling mechanism following a video by Nathan Tardif. It took me three months to get it right because when it wasn't working, I'd stop so as not to get impatient and frustrated. hehe Some of the issues I encountered were the new packing unit not staying in place and the vacuum working so well so that once reassembled, the plunger refused to be pushed back into the barrel. It was a pretty involved repair job for me and because of that, this is one pen I'm keeping forever. 

I repaired the section using putty and model paint. I've been using the pen with different inks and I've had no issues with the model paint reacting to the inks or to my fingers. I used this method because I don't have access to or knowledge of working with plastics and such chemicals. This was the easiest, cheapest route for me and it's working. 

 

vacfill.jpg

 

vacfill2.jpg



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