My Lafette 42 restoration now underway.

[Tommygunn]

It's been a while since I said I was going to get stuck in and restore my Lafette 42 tripod but now the time has arrived and I've started.
First, here is a photo of how it used to look in all its post war Austrian finery.




So, I've got all my materials together.




Paint stripper, Dunkelgrau, Red Oxide, Cellulose thinners (for the Dunkel), White spirit (for the Red Oxide), Nitro Cellulose (for degreasing), goggles, masks and wire brush.

I also got some Jenolite rust killing gel but as is the way with everything these days it's rubbish so I found out that the active ingredient is Phosphoric Acid and what do you know but you can get an 80odd% pure bottle of this stuff from Hydroponics retailers. Brilliant... and cheap.




Tom.

[Tommygunn]

I decided to tackle the rear legs and bolt box first. I slapped on plenty of paint stripper and off came the Austrian paint.



Still some stripper on those feet.
What I was surprised by was just how quickly the steel tarnishes after washing off the stripper with water. Anyway, my gas stove and Phosphoric Acid will take care of the water and rust.

Now, onto the other stuff and out with the brush and stripper.




Tom.

[42rocker]

Well Good Luck to you on this project. Lots of updates if you get the chance.

Later 42rocker

[Tommygunn]

Thanks.
Yes, I'll be taking photos at every stage and I'll post them up.

Tom.

[Navy7797]

Can't wait to see the total project start to the finish !

[Tommygunn]

Cool,
Applying some more slop and pressure washing later.

Tom.

[pitfighter]

I just picked up my first Yugo refurbished Lafette (I took a long time, I know) - really looking forward to seeing how yours turns out now.
It looks like a lot of work,

Pit.

[Tommygunn]

It looks like a lot of work

It just depends whether your have that knack and gumption etc i.e. that father to son kinda thing, messing about in the garage and an interest and understanding of mechanics and engineering. If not, then it could be tedious and/or distressing.
For me it's a piece of cake and a joy but it can get tedious in that from one stage to the next it can take a while with bits lying about while life goes on, when all you want to do is get on with it.

Tom.

[Tommygunn]

I have a problem.
After stripping the paint and washing off the stripper I'm having big problems with corrosion. Now, I've got the Phosphoric Acid but the problem arises when I want to wash it off as it is basically water based and if I use water to wash it off then it just flash corrodes again, therefore, I wanted to use a spirit/oil based wash.

I've tried Nitro Cellulose(Lacquer Thinner), denutured alcohol but, of course, that is how I found out PA is water based as it does not mix, or rather, wash off.

Any ideas on how to wash off a water based rust killer without coroding the steel?

Tom.

[42rocker]

While the pics are gone the wording is still there. If after reading it you don't have your answer try sending him a pm with your questions.

Good Luck

Later 42rocker

Missing stuff -- tomcatshaas mg34 rebuild thread

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5473

[Tommygunn]

42rocker,
Some of your text seems to be missing. Are you refering to Tomcatshaas's rebuild in the stickies section? I'll give him a pm and see if he encountered the problem.

Tom.

[Tommygunn]

I've cracked it!

I have to thank a guy on another forum for the idea. I went to find the other half's nail varnish remover but unfortunately it said, 'Acetone Free', but I thought, 'what the hell'.
I also thought that de-mineralised water might help as we have very hard water here and that is not going to help.

Anyway, I painted the PA onto the back panel (pictured below) and left the central groove as a PA contol. I then used a kitchen sponge cloth thingy to wipe the left side with 'Acetone' and the right side with the de-min water.

As you can see the left side (Acetone) has a much cleaner, steely look while the right hand side (de-min water) has an ever so slightly brown tinge, no where near as bad as the tap water I was using.

As an after treatment I'll wipe/brush the area with the most volatile solvent I have, which is Lacquer Thinner, to make sure it is properly degreased.

Sorted.

Tom.

[Tommygunn]

Small parts degreased, oxided and ready for a second coat:




Bolt box, elev/trav block and spent case tray degreased and ready for painting:




Tom.

[42rocker]

Tom
It's looking good. Good Luck with the rest and hope to see more pics as it goes..

Later 42rocker

[salt6]

Changed to sticky topic.

[Tommygunn]

Thanks 42rocker and Salt6.

More parts PA'd, degreased and ready for painting.

Tom.

[K98dkmauser]

good luck

[Tommygunn]

Lots of paint:







Tom

[Tommygunn]

K98dkmauser,
Many thanks.

Tom.

[Tommygunn]

Forgot to do a before shot for this one. Wouldn't have been any more exciting than the others mind:




News flash - I've given up on the Acetone and Nitro wash to get rid of the Phosphoric Acid and instead switched to distilled water. It is less hassle and quite frankly seems to do an equal if not better job at getting rid of the PA as long as your quick with the paper towels and blowlamp.





Tom.