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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Rust Never Sleeps



What's in the case?



It's an Optima!



Let's look under the hood ...



Uh-oh!



Help!!



Disassembly:



Even the logo gets removed:



Ready for an overnight Evapo-Rust bath:



Here's a surprise. I tried soaking these two body parts in nail polish remover (which did wonders on aluminum parts of my Hermes 3000). The paint got soggy, and I used a stiff brush to remove it efficiently ... revealing more paint! Under the thick coat of textured tan paint, I found this smooth khaki and grey paint which isn't fazed by the polish remover.



Tune in next time to see the effects of the Evapo-Rust. What color do you think I should paint this machine?

4 comments:

  1. This is what you call treasure hunting. Can't wait how the restoration turns out!

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  2. Hmmn, I actually kinda like the tan color you removed, set against the brown keys. Is that green some sort of primer?

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  3. Ted, the tan color isn't too bad, I agree, but on this machine it was pretty grungy. A good opportunity for some hotrodding, I say. The greenish color may be primer, as you suggest -- or maybe, in some East German official act of aesthetic wisdom, it was decreed that existing ready parts should be overpainted with textured tan paint.

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  4. I need a week or two at Typewriter Camp where the rest of us learn all this great stuff. I'm unwilling to disassemble a mostly-functional machine for fear I won't be able to reassemble it.

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