The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Back in June I posted a thread regarding my find of another plaster Pathé rooster.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49722&p=295246&hili ... 32#p295246

This week I have started the restoration, with the plan to keep it with as much original paint as possible. After thoroughly cleaning it, I could confirm that this rooster has its original paint and that more than 90% is intact and stable. The paint appears to be a lead paint, since it has a unique translucent appearance, that I was afraid would be difficult or impossible to replicate. Red paint is one of the most difficult to match and I didn't want to end up with a mismatched spotty look when touching up small chips.

The rooster is physically in good condition, with the exception of a chipped beak, some small chips in the paint, several small holes and two larger holes, one in each leg. Since I have no idea what caused the damage on the legs, I didn't want raw or broken plaster in the holes, so I decided to stabilize the insides with a coating of wood glue to make sure the filler would have a good surface to adhere to. This proved to be successful and allowed me to fill the cavities with epoxy putty.

Regarding the paint, the original appeared to be a burnt orange base with brick red over the top, although I think the original paint just appears that way due to its translucent nature. I'm posting a close up of the original paint showing the effect I am referring to.

I decided the best way to match the paint was to apply a burnt orange undercoat with a sponge, then sponge brick red paint over the top. I started by fixing the beak and touching up the chips on the comb...

The following pics are the legs stabilized and then filled with epoxy...


I'll post more pics as I make progress...

Here is what the beak and comb looked like - before touch up.

Looks like you are doing the rooster justice, when it's complete you will certainly have another thing to "crow" about!
Be careful with that lead paint though, I'd like you to last long enough to do more of these restorations.

AudioFeline wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:15 am Looks like you are doing the rooster justice, when it's complete you will certainly have another thing to "crow" about!
Be careful with that lead paint though, I'd like you to last long enough to do more of these restorations.

I'm not doing anything to disturb the lead paint, so hopefully I'll still be around to do more... but my warranty has run out (if I ever had one).

More pictures of restoration progress:

First pic, orange undercoat to cover the chipped paint and epoxy filler repairs.


Second pic: restoring raised lettering on the base that was worn down or not molded with enough detail.
I traced over them with glue to give them more raised definition before painting...

Fascinating and excellent work on this Pathé rooster, Curt
,,and this time no green arsenic paint involved on a Pathé product

nostalgia wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:57 am Fascinating and excellent work on this Pathé rooster, Curt
,,and this time no green arsenic paint involved on a Pathé product

No green arsenic, just red lead...