Touch-up a Cygnet Horn with a painted oak woodgrain.

[Roaring20s]

This is my latest project, cleaning up a Cygnet Horn with a painted oak woodgrain.

Years ago, I added combination gearing to my Standard B. This year’s plan is set it up with this Cygnet horn. The paint is firmly attached, minor dings that are mostly out of one’s line of sight, and no rust. I saw this as a candidate for beautification. It will be a nice fit to the Standard.

The horn was clean when I received it, and after assessing the paint’s stability, I chose to clean it with Gojo. It let go of a bit more dirt, but not enough to see a difference. I wanted to address two things before filling in the chips and scratches. Two of the inner panels have a paint drip that needs to be removed. The swan neck has a few dents, but one was a bit deep and I would try and lessen it. As I got started I reminded myself to take photos!

As a test, I dabbed a small amount of Strypeeze gel-stripper in a corner of the horn’s paint and there was no immediate reaction. This would give me time to get the drip of old enamel paint off. Using the small brush and only placing the stripper on the drip, it softened quickly an was removed quickly. I worked half inch increments until it was gone. As I moved along I swabbed the cleaned area with water.

The largest dent in the swan neck was not bad, but it was easy to get to. So I thought I’d try. I had not attempted this before did not find it easy. The metal was not as supple as I imagined. Protecting the surface, I finally managed to apply pressure using a clamp. The process popped some paint from both sides. Minor improvement was made and extra painting is now required, so I stopped that.

I used Testors model paints for the fill-ins. Gloss Light Brown 1133, Gloss Black 1147, and some Flat Brown 1166. The oxidation of the outer bell made it hard to color match and no to little 1166 brown was used. I took my time, I used fine brushes and a magnifying glass. Kept the paint as thin as possible to flow color into the voids. As each little void was dry to the touch, I pressed it with a scrap of cloth to impress its pattern on the surface. To me this helped it make more like to older surface. Sometimes I rubbed my finger over it too, to dull it a bit. Then I worked it some more, adding streaks and grain until I was happy.

I did this to make the surface less distractive. I chose to leave some of the natural wear alone while filling the loss. If I need to force a blend over the damage area and the existing paint, I did it sparingly. Enough of the decal was present and just defining the edge was all it needed.

… and that’s what I did while on winter recess. The end.

James.

[gramophone-georg]

Damn, that looks really good!

[Curt A]

Big Improvement, less distracting!!! It looks great...

[Jerry B.]

Yes, it look much much better. Jerry

[alang]

Wow, great job on the touch-ups. That's one thing I don't have the steady hand nor the eye for.

Thanks for sharing.
Andreas

[phonosandradios]

I have to agree that touch up paint job very very impressive. Just enough to cover the damaged areas and leaving the good areas alone. I really like it.

[Roaring20s]

This project made me feel creative and your compliments feels good!

James.

[tomb]

Nice job James. Those oak horns look really nice on the phonographs. I do not have the patience or steadiness to accomplish that. I am great with a black felt tip pen and WD 40 on black horns. I have a blue searchlight I repainted that I will gold stripe one of these days when I get my steadiness back. Tom

[Inigo]

Nice loving and careful work, and good results maintaining the patina and age of the horn. A well done judicious work. Congratulations! How difficult it is to restrain oneself avoiding going too fast/too far in restoration. I want to believe that part of the trick when doing this is to take time, and go by little steps each day, so you can renew your judgement everyday about what more must or must not be done...

[AudioFeline]

Nice work. Restorations can be over-restored, which destroy the character of the item. You have achieved the perfect balance between restoration and over-restoration - well done, I admire your work!