Restore or merely repair?

[Curt A]

Since the horn needs to be stripped of its green paint, you might as well do the entire horn. A repaint is not normally the most desirable choice for a horn in relatively good condition, but esthetically it would be an improvement on this horn, as it appears to be relatively dent free, but cosmetically it is in bad shape.

[Curt A]

I can't tell exactly if the floral design on your horn is in good enough condition to save. If it is, you can repaint your horn and still preserve the flowers... It will be a time intensive project but not really hard. You would "paint" over the floral designs with liquid frisket/masking fluid or rubber cement to protect the images from being painted over with black lacquer. After the paint is dry, you can rub off the black paint from the flowers and they will reappear. Then overspray the entire horn with a clear lacquer (use black lacquer for the horn). The following YouTube video gives you an idea of how to accomplish this - if you can stand the presenter's sense of humor...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhyXeKdIkY

https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-2-Ounce-I ... B00139SZU4

[Squire]

I'm sure I can restore it myself. So that's what I'll do! I'll just have to ask a lot of questions and read a lot of threads to make sure I do it right. I'm in no hurry so I'll take my time and try my best to do it right. As far as the horn goes, the flowers would need a lot of touch up to be saved. I'd be more inclined to refinish it black without the flowers or have them entirely repainted. I know more than one person who paints and they could probably do a nice job.

[Curt A]

If you have someone repaint the flowers, it would be a good idea to take some closeup pics of the originals for reference...

[tomb]

If you do decide to paint it hot pink you could put a Mary Kay sticker on it and it would be a rare one. I would refinish the bedplate parts. Use the same paint for the primer, top coat and clear coat like krylon paint products. Put on your decals or restripe it yourself then clear coat. Decals can be gotten at Wyatt's Mon thru Wednesday. It is not difficult with some practice to make the tuffs in the corner with a gold gel pen, use a .07 or 1.0 tip. Use a small ruler for the straight lines. Cover all the holes with pieces of paper or paper towels so no paint gets into them.. Jam the paper in with an awl or paper clip. You will need to strip it with stripper and a heavy wire brush wheel. Clean it with acetone or alcohol before you prime it after it is stripped The crank and worm screw cover temporarily wire wheel brush them then clean coat them. You can get them replanted later when you have a couple of items to send in unless you do it yourself. See if the case will clean up with goop or other products I use cotton cleanser to clean and cotton finish restorer for the finish. One jar of each lasts a while. Any case gluing and putting together do that before refinishing the case You should use long clamps on the case and they are cheap at harbor freight. Put your foot pads on fill in the excess holes on the bottom with wood filler or a colored crayon. You can use a old oak gel stain to touch the bottom holes ... Tom B

[Squire]

If you do decide to paint it hot pink you could put a Mary Kay sticker on it and it would be a rare one. I would refinish the bedplate parts. Use the same paint for the primer, top coat and clear coat like krylon paint products. Put on your decals or restripe it yourself then clear coat. Decals can be gotten at Wyatt's Mon thru Wednesday. It is not difficult with some practice to make the tuffs in the corner with a gold gel pen, use a .07 or 1.0 tip. Use a small ruler for the straight lines. Cover all the holes with pieces of paper or paper towels so no paint gets into them.. Jam the paper in with an awl or paper clip. You will need to strip it with stripper and a heavy wire brush wheel. Clean it with acetone or alcohol before you prime it after it is stripped The crank and worm screw cover temporarily wire wheel brush them then clean coat them. You can get them replanted later when you have a couple of items to send in unless you do it yourself. See if the case will clean up with goop or other products I use cotton cleanser to clean and cotton finish restorer for the finish. One jar of each lasts a while. Any case gluing and putting together do that before refinishing the case You should use long clamps on the case and they are cheap at harbor freight. Put your foot pads on fill in the excess holes on the bottom with wood filler or a colored crayon. You can use a old oak gel stain to touch the bottom holes ... Tom B

Thanks for the suggestions! We just moved and are still getting settled but when I get my garage workspace set up, I'll tear into it!