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Two of my four Victor external horn machines had back brackets that were dinged, faded and rough in appearance. I was going to keep them original despite their appearance because you could still see the remains of their ornate decorations. As often happens, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, especially considering that, in my opinion anyway, that decoration is eye catching and very appealing.

I have used decals from Greg Cline and Eduardo in then past and I have been very happy with both. I had never done a back bracket and my decision to go with Eduardo’s set was based on the two things, (pre-cut and that the stripes that go around the knobs are one piece). The job went well and I used Micro Sol, topped with some amber shellac.

It seems that Victor probably used a varnish transfer to apply the ornate decoration and then a hand pinstripes for the framing. I have seen them striped in both yellow and gold, (narrow and not so narrow). My machines are not in a museum and bringing back some of the original appeal means more to me than preserving a part that is in poor condition, so I don’t regret doing the Monarch’s back bracket and I will do my III as well, (My D and Humpback have good, original decoration and I won’t be doing anything to them).

I was hoping that people could share their results, (Eduardo, Greg Cline or other decals). It would be nice to know how things went and see the results.

The pictures below are of a Victor II back bracket that is for sale on eBay with original, bold and yellow striping like Eduardo’s decals, my Monarch with Eduardo’s decals and my Victor II with original decoration.

Thanks,
George

I haven’t applied bracket decals before but I do think that your examples came out fantastic and certainly do it justice.
There are the purists out there and the restorers- both sides have valid points.
It just comes down to the owner and their opinion. Thanks for sharing

I've only done it once on a Victor VI that had nearly invisible bracket decoration. I used Eduardo's and it came out really well. In my opinion it markedly improved the machine's appearance but I hesitated to do it for years as I generally prefer original. Bob

I absolutely agree. Original is always best, but if it’s damaged, non working or blemished to the point of indecipherable..a restoration is in need!

I've mentioned it on here before but I was lucky enough once to buy a Victor III that's been in a box since the early 1900s. It was used a little tiny bit, developed a malfunction, and was put away.

The machine has blue and gold stenciling on the back bracket. I have seen the blue marking on other pieces too, such as typewriters in the 1910s, and the blue paint did not last as well as the gold--it tended to fade badly.

It's a good-looking machine with the blue striping as well as the gold. I try not to handle it very much & it spends most of its time still in the old Victor carry box but I do enjoy playing records on it.

Thank you for the positive feedback. I have done my Victor III now as well.

I was hoping to see other examples and compare the differences and discuss methods and issues. I did use Micro-Sol but not the Micro-Set. I over-coated the decals with Bullseye Amber Shellac. The largest decal that covers the entire side of the back bracket is a handful and I nearly ruined the first one. I began with one side and then applied the stripe that goes across the top. I used the stripe to line up the other side. I saved the striping that surrounds the knobs for last. Eduardo does provide some extra pieces and I had to add a short length to the upper stripe, but it blended nicely. I think that having some Micro-Set is probably worth while especially when dealing with the largest decal. The decals really do dress up the machine and after applying the micro-Sol and shellac you would never know that they were decals.

I had thought that is was interesting that high end Columbia and HMV back brackets were Nickel Plated and Victor was Japanned and decorated. I understood more when I removed the original Japanning and found that the foundry work was not great. The castings are full of small pits and irregularities, so plating or Japanning alone would not have been acceptable. A heavy Japanned finish with intricate decoration hides the flaws in the casting. By modern standards, the castings were quite good, but not on par with the Columbia castings and would not have plated well.

I've used a lot of Micro set/sol in the plastic scale model hobby which is another one of my obsessions (problems)
I only ever use Micro Sol if i need the decal to conform to a highly textured or uneven surface, it softens the decal to the point where it can
easily tear or disintegrate. If i do use Micro Sol, I always apply the decal with Micro Set first, wait for it to almost dry, then lightly brush on some micro Sol.
The decal will start to soften and fill in the uneven areas.

You did a fantastic job on those back brackets!

I have now done a back bracket with Greg Cline’s decals. I did this one because the machine that it will be displayed on had the original filigree and pin striping in good, but dull condition. That back bracket will be stored and the bracket with the Greg Cline decals will be used for display. All three are the type used on a Victor III, IV or Monarch. The images from top to bottom are the original that I will preserve, Eduardo’s and then Greg’s.

In the end, I found that I preferred the filigree on Eduardo’s decals, but I also preferred the pin striping on Greg’s decals, so it was a toss up.

I used water on the surfaces when placing the decals from Eduardo. I tried the Micro Set when placing the first side of Greg’s and water on the second side. I actually preferred the water. My fingers are quite calloused from guitar playing, so to avoid tearing the decals while smoothing them out I used a good quality ⅜” wide water color paint brush. The brush worked very well. I also used Micro Sol to blend the decals into the finish. It not only blends them in, but it also seems to make the decal less prone to damage. Both types were top coated with amber shellac.

The instructions from both sites are good but generic. I found that it worked well to begin with Eduardo’s large filigree decal. Greg’s decals have the large side decals in two pieces and I found that it worked well to apply the smaller, upper pinstriped sections first, followed by the horizontal stripe, the opposite upper pin stripe decal and then the large filigree portions.

All three back brackets, (two have Eduardo’s decals and one has Greg’s), were buffed down to bare metal and all had pores that had to be filled with Glazing Compound.

I think that either of these decal sets dress up a Victor without looking out of place and I really don’t prefer one over the other. Both Greg and Eduardo have always been very friendly and helpful and both provide very nice decals. I do wish that one or the other of them would introduce a slightly worn looking set to be used on machines that show their age. I was dreading the job, but I am happy with the results.

Nice comparison and excellent applications!

Eduardo's scroll work comes as one large decal, containing both scroll sections? If so, would it be possible, or better, to cut them apart and place each separately? I ask because Eduardo's lower scroll work seems to be located a bit far from the base of the back bracket. If it is one decal, the upper scroll work must be centered properly, giving no adjustment for placement of the bottom section.

I see what you mean about the strengths of each. I also would like to see a distressed example, but then if the bracket is so bad that it should be re-striped, it should also need to be re-painted. A distressed decal over new paint would look odd, I think.

JerryVan wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:08 pm Nice comparison and excellent applications!

Eduardo's scroll work comes as one large decal, containing both scroll sections? If so, would it be possible, or better, to cut them apart and place each separately? I ask because Eduardo's lower scroll work seems to be located a bit far from the base of the back bracket. If it is one decal, the upper scroll work must be centered properly, giving no adjustment for placement of the bottom section.

I see what you mean about the strengths of each. I also would like to see a distressed example, but then if the bracket is so bad that it should be re-striped, it should also need to be re-painted. A distressed decal over new paint would look odd, I think.

Good eye, Jerry. Eduardo’s decal does end a little further back than the others, but I think that the filigree portions were probably varnish transfers and the surrounding pin stripes, (gold or yellow), were hand done, so there was probably some variation in their placement and the pin stripes seem to vary quite a bit. Once installed, it is not noticeable and if anything, when viewing from an angle I think that it looks better, (Eduardo's shown on my Victor III).

The new paint can be dulled a little, (“aged”$, but I get what you are saying. I was thinking that a decal set that looked like an excellent “survivor” would nice.

Here are screen shots of the decal sets, (the blue background is Eduardo's).