Bush TR82C lettering restoration

[jimmyball]

Hi gang,

in the process of restoring a rough TR82C I found a cheap and easy way to restore the lettering on the top panel and the wavechange buttons. First remove any remaining black lettering - I used warm soapy water and an old toothbrush. My radio was stripped down completely so I soaked the top panel and buttons in warm water first to aid removal of remaining black lettering.

Now here's the trick. First make sure the panel and buttons are complely dry. Now get a black wax crayon (I used one from my 3 year old daughter's toy box) and rub it backwards and forwards over the lettering working the wax into the letters. When all lettering is full of wax simply wipe off the excess wax with a piece of kitchen roll et voila - good as new (it needs a good rub to get rid of the excess by the way). The buttons are easiest as you can place kitchen roll on a flat work surface and rub the button against it to remove excess crayon.

Well it worked great for me and I'm well pleased with the result.

Cheers

Jim

[Tim]

That's good Jim.
I have used this technique before on knobs, but not yet on the TR82C.
Of course wax crayons are available in many colours including white, silver and gold.
I wonder if it would help to apply a smear of clear varnish to protect the new lettering?

[Robert Darwent]

Well done Jim! Yes I've used that same idea to good effect before as well.

It does works very well on the earlier MB60/TR82 type sets that have indented lettering. Unfortunately can't be used on most of the later three push-button sets, such as the VTR103, they used transfer type decals on a smooth topped button so nothing to fill with the crayon.

Regards

[jimmyball]

Tim/Robert

Cheers for the positive feedback (no pun intended) on my little tip. I think I'll see how the lettering "wears" particularly on the buttons before commiting to clear varnish Tim (mainly cos I've partially reassembled the set whilst I wait for a back and tuning knob bright to turn up) . Like the idea of applying different colours where applicable I think white would be useful for the odd bakelite knob with lettering. I'm just glad I didn't try and paint the letters which was my first idea. Wonder how they used to achieve it in the factory ?

Thanks again fellas

Jim

[GJR 11L]

Great tip, but would a gold crayon not have worked to recreate the original colour of the lettering? These are gold originally, but most are black after they've had the grease from a few dozen fingers in about them over the years.

For the DL/CL/VTR103 ones, gold Letraset characters are the best way to reproduce the lettering, then either don't use them very frequently or lacquer them with a little clear acrylic.

[Robert Darwent]

Originally Posted by GJR 11L

These are gold originally, but most are black after they've had the grease from a few dozen fingers in about them over the years.

Hi John,

I believe they were available in both black and gold John, and the black variety are definitely far more common.

In fact I've not seen any of the earlier models in gold personally, all my MB60/TR82B/TR82C Mk1's are black lettered and it is the actual colour not just the result of dirt build up.

The situation is reversed with the later models, like the VTR103, with gold being more common than black.

I agree with the letraset idea for the smooth top buttons, although I prefer to make waterslide transfers and protect with a little clear acrylic lacquer.

Regards

[GJR 11L]

Thanks for the info Robert, my mistake. Just off to dismantle some radio sets and swap buttons around........