A stripey conundrum...
 

When I get "round tuit", I'm going to have to strip the cabinet of a Murphy A272C console; the varnish has had it.
Unfortunately, as those familiar with these sets will know, Murphy applied a gold stripe to top and bottom.
I fear this will not survive varnish remover...
This begs the question, what to replace it with?
Any thoughts?

N.B. The image is a stock one, not my receiver.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

I'd say gold lacquer, brush applied, using 3M Scotch Blue Automotive Masking Tape to mask off the cabinet. It's what the motor trade use. It adheres well, paint doesn't crepe underneath the edges, and it peels off without pulling the varnish or paint off to which it's been applied. It's thinner but stronger than decorating masking tape. I haven't done anything on the scale of your Murphy A272C, but I did restore the cabinet of a Pilot Little Maestro T105 which was a gaudy turquoise colour with a gold edge and stripes and was in rather a bad way. After removing the old paint, re-spraying it with acid etch primer, an undercoat and colour matched gloss, I masked it off the Scotch blue tape and applied a couple of coats of gold lacquer.

Before & after pics below.

This is the Scotch auto tape I'm referring to. It comes in a range of widths from 19mm to 48mm. (19mm is more than adequate for our needs):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-Scotch...frcectupt=true

Hope that might help a bit.

Good luck with the restoration.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

That's a very nice job you've done with the cabinet David. I have the identical set which is in a fairly ropey old state. When I get around to repairing my set, I'll try that Scotch tape for masking out the trim lines. I think that tape could be used for masking larger areas of copper clad board so paint or whatever can be applied for etch resist purposes.

Incidentally, the control knobs on my set are a little different to yours, see attached pic of the unrestored set.

Regards
Symon.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

We have seen one of those Murphy 'baffle' sets painted gloss white. Now that is borderline sacrilege, but I can understand that the large slab of brown is a bit noticeable & 'brown furniture' was desperately unfashionable.
I am curious as to the natural shade of the wood in a unvarnished spot. That sample image looks rather dark.
That Murphy has more real wood in it than the entire lounge furniture of most houses.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

Possibly better for the purpose would be masking tape designed for pinstriping. It is in three parts, joined on the roll. After application, the centre strip is removed. Can't offer a link at the moment, but it is definitely available. The benefit is that the stripe is accurate in width all the way.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

There is masking tape for striping. You run a strip of tape along where you want the stripe to go, then you unpeel a centre strip revealing the surface you want to paint in a perfectly spaced gap.

Sounds simple?

There's a drawback. Masking tapes don't completely cover the surface, the underside is wrinkled to leave tiny airgaps so that it can be more easily peeled off, and the wrinkly tape is more steerable in application. Paint goes under the tape and adheres to the surface. You get an unsmooth edge also you get bobbles of adhesive along the edge where the centre strip was unpeeled.... more unsmoothness. Then you remove the outer strips of tape you get a hard edge with a ragged finish if you look closely.

Use a thick paint to stop it going under into the wrinkles and you get a taller ragged edge.

Use a thin paint so the step of the edge is less, and the paint penetrates better into the wrinkles and spoils your edge that way.

To produce a high quality finish to a stripe, coach painters use a thin but very long brush. Think of a small artist's brush but with bristles around 10 inches long.

This is dragged across the surface/ it takes a steady hand to get the trajectory right.

THis takes practice on a bit of material that doesn't matter. It may take a few goes on the final surface, so the final surface needs to be hard dried so cleaniing with a solvent doesn't harm it if you're quick.

Three tricks:

Arrange a bit of temporary surface so you have a good long run up to the bit that counts so you can get the brush straight and going before the real job.

Arrange a temporary surface as a run off after the bit that counts so you can keep the brush running straight until the very tip leaves the job in the proper direction.

You can arrange a smooth guide to run your hand along to get better overall straightness.

Back in the day, those coachlines would have been put on in a matter of seconds by someone doing it freehand, cabinet after cabinet.

When you've mastered the straight ones, move onto curves, recurves and finials :-)

David

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

It's very thin tape now, which doesn't leave build-up or creep like the old hairy masking tapes. Paint consistency is imperative.

https://www.finessepinstriping.com/ With how to video

https://www.pinstripinguk.com/sundri...ngle-line-tape

https://www.handover.co.uk/tools-and...e-striper-tape

https://www.stonehouses.co.uk/finesse-pinstriping-tape/

Andrew

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

Not sure how much time you want to spend on the finish, but:

This example of automotive pinstripe on a roll (ebay) is 2.5mm and 5mm approx. wide. Choice of colours including silver/gold, and matt or gloss finish. (For your application you could ditch the 5mm part) It's actually quite thin vinyl but a slight step might be noticeable in the varnished finish. Pugin wouldn't approve, but then again if it's no good you're only a few quid down and it comes off with a hairdryer. I suspect a craft supplier or graphics company could supply narrower material if 2.5mm is too wide.

Dave

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

The car pinstripe is what I was going to suggest. May be worth looking in somewhere like Halfords to see the actual colour rather than relying on online photos.

There will be a slight step but as it coincides with a colour change it may well not be noticeable. I would apply the stripe before the varnish/lacquer finish.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

Gents, thanks for all your suggestions.
To be honest, the complexities of masking, hand painting and paint creep sounded quite alarming. I'm pleased to see that my initial thought of car pinstriping is not as daft as I thought it might have seemed.
I will in all probability go that route.

Re: A stripey conundrum...
 

Check-out my link to gold striping tape [for radio case/cabinet refurbishment] in the cabinet restoration section of this forum. It will apparently take clear lacquer/varnish etc. etc. ;)