1961/62 Ambassador in the wild (yellow ochre)

[varekai]

Man you work fast, I was going to throw in my 2 cents but you're done now. Anyhow, I'll
 put it out there for anyone next time... When I was into building models, I found this stuff  http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Product_Code=MI-7&Screen=PROD

I was thinking you could spray the whole wheel side white, then "flood" the whitewall area with the micromask, trim as necessary and spray your black, peel off the mask when all dry and VOILA!

[mhiszem]

Wow those look geeat


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[Travis]

Very nice work Jim. Very nice work.


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[inkaddictedchef1]

Wow Jim! Beautiful progress on the restore... cannot wait to see it finisged.

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[Neil_VT00]

Wow, incredible work on the wheels.  Definitely some inspiration for the set I am working on!

[Mike in Roseville]

Bravo Jim! Those wheels like amazing now!

Are you planning on keeping the white walls facing the inside once you reassemble it?

[Cellar2ful]

Are you planning on keeping the white walls facing the inside once you reassemble it?

As Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory would say, "Sarcasm"?   No way I would be able to look at it on a daily basis with those white walls facing inwards.  This kettle is in to good a shape to have the wheels installed incorrectly. 

[Firemunkee]

Wow those wheels look so good!!

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[Brain_STL]

Thanks for sharing, I’m gonna give your technique a try!


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[Cellar2ful]

I thought these legs were going to be a piece of cake restoring.  Boy was I wrong. Nothing has come close to the time I had to put into sanding these fricken legs. 



Once I sanded the surface crud off, I found the aluminum was really corroded. The outside of the legs were really bad. The parts of the legs that were facing towards the inside did not have the level of corrosion that the outside facing parts did.  Maybe a combination of exposure to ash and acid rain?



Lost count of how many times I sanded them down starting with medium grade sandpaper, then to fine sandpaper, then to #0000 steel wool and polishing them, only to find out the surface was still not smooth enough. I refused to give in and use a newer, better condition set of legs.  But finally............




The thumbscrews and leg sockets came out pretty good.




And here is Saratoga fully restored.  Well, almost.  I still have to get the rust off the J hooks of the ash pan.




When I first picked her up.

[RottiGuy]

What a beauty!!

[Firemunkee]

Phenomenal!

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[Hofy]

Amazing story and restore.  Definitely a keeper.

[Cellar2ful]

.

[Cellar2ful]

I was so focused on cleaning the exterior of this kettle, restoring the wheels and sanding/polishing the legs, I completely forgot about the interior of the lid.




I thought it was going to be the usual, easy razor scrape then quick buff with steel wool.  Nope.  Nothing has been easy on this restoration.  The interior of the lid has a really heavy orange peel, unlike the exterior that has no orange peel and is really smooth.  I have never seen orange peeling on the inside of a kettle lid.  Unfortunately, this created all kinds of nooks and crannies for the baked grease and smoke to adhere to. After twice scraping with a razor blade, then scrubbing with an SOS pad and Dawn soap, this is what it looked like.



What residue was left had to be removed with #0000 steel wool.  Every little pocket of baked on residue took a couple of minutes of scrubbing with the steel wool.



Finally, after two days of tedious scrubbing.