Monday 20 June 2011

Underwood uncovered

This looked sooo much nicer on ebay!
This 1930s machine has sat neglected in the loft for several years but these silver surfers over the pond have shown that a new paint job is achievable, without too much stress. It is a crying shame that removing the paint will destroy the original Underwood decals.
Thinking that if someone could paint it so badly and in such a crappy colour, the technical challenge of dismantling this Underwood wouldn't be beyond me. It didn't take long to find the two screws fixing the aluminium body to the its guts. I'm going to run into a challenge when it comes to the feet. The front ones are bolted to the frame but specifically shaped to take the nut and and bolt and grooved to accommodate the case fixings. Maybe I can whittle something. The back feet also need replacing...

STOP PRESS: I just had a quick dab with paint stripper. The hand-painted brown has started to come off fairly easily - decals and original enamel pretty much OK. Maybe this could turn into a renovation rather than a reinvention?

The glue sticking the aftermarket interior sponge foam (???!!!) is harder to get off than the paint!


6 comments:

  1. Rob, this is really interesting. Can't wait to see how your renovation turns out. All the best!

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  2. ....me too. Could be a long process. The works need a good clean too! Anyone squirelled away a store of Underwood 4 bank front feet? Top prices paid!

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  3. Rob, replacement feet are often disguised as rubber bumpers at your local hardware store. I bought a set of white ones for another machine. Also see:

    http://www.johnstowntypewriterconservatory.com/underwoodportable.html

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  4. wow that was a surprise seeing those decals!

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  5. which paint stripper did you use?

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  6. @shordzi: Nitromors, I'll post a photo

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