decauville1126 Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 78 r.p.m. records cab still be found in charity shops from time to time. They often have a premium price as assumed 'collectible'. Usually plenty, including broken ones, at our local car boot sales. Often can be acquired for free when it gets near the end, especially if broken! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted August 30, 2018 Author Share Posted August 30, 2018 Is it better to buy the flakes and is it easy to mix? Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted August 31, 2018 Author Share Posted August 31, 2018 I've also seen some Colron French Polish in my local DIY shop, has anbody used that? I as wondering as I need to be able to paint over it and Dasatcopthornes post earlier made me think. Thanks. Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKR Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Yes you can paint over it, but do give it time to dry fully. Going over it too soon can lead to crazing when the top layer dries quicker than the bottom. Also avoid 78’s as they often used coal dust in the mix.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 I would get Button Polish and Meths to thin it. Or get the Blond Flakes. Put them in a jar and pour in the Meths. You need the mixture thin-ish so that it soaks into the card. You will need to do a bit of experimenting, as usual with something new. Best of luck. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaddeus Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Is it better to buy the flakes and is it easy to mix? Steve. Shellac has a shelf life once its mixed, A homebrew mix lasts about a year - year and a half and then will refuse to set hard, you get a tackiness to the finish. Always better to mix up small batches from flake and alcohol. Its easy. Another problem with buying pre-mix off the shelf is that you dont know how long its been there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris45lsw Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Back in the day, before plastic sneet, it was always recommended to seal the card with shellac to make it waterproof. As an added benefit, it hardens the card and helps to stop its annoying ability to form 'whiskers' when cut (use a Swann-Morten blade!). That said my card wagons made without its assistance have all survived. Waffle alert! 78 r.p.m. records cab still be found in charity shops from time to time. They often have a premium price as assumed 'collectible'. Being played with steel needles with a playing weight measured in ounces will have ensured they aren't! (The needle and the abrasive shellac effectively destroyed each other on the first playing.) The same applies to vinyl and crystal 'rockbender' cartriges. Hence the universal provision of treble cut controls to remove the resulting distortion and crackle. I used shellac when I was making card 7mm scale wagons around 1980-82 and they are still 'good as new'. Scenic genius, the late George Iliffe Stokes, extolled the virtues of his 'black magic' matt paint made by dissolving 78rpm records in meths in an article in the MRC for September 1959. Chris KT 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKR Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Great believer in mixing 50/50 meths shellac with pigments. Very fast drying. I’ve also used them in an old airbrush as a tonal wash. Spirit stains can also be used with the mix. I would guess Stokes got lucky as a dissolved 78 would last him for years.... As someone who has a large collection of them, I use fibre needles only once due to the high wear on the tips. Remember 78’s were massed produced and a variety of “fillers” were added to bulk the mix and reduce costs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Thanks guys, shellac flakes it is, off to e bay now :-) Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 I would have thought that any fillers used in 78 records would settle out of the dissolved mixture if left to stand for a bit. Whether it would be worth bothering, though, given the lack of new supply of 78s and the ready availability of new shellac, is another matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 I used a tin of 'knotting' that was at least 5 years old and it dried with no stickiness... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 Just picked up a broken 78 in the market. Will try dissolving in meths when I get home. What can go wrong...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 Just picked up a broken 78 in the market. Will try dissolving in meths when I get home. What can go wrong...... Well, if you run the resulting stock too quickly on a roundy-roundy you might be regaled by the ghostly strains of Rosemary Clooney or similar . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 Just picked up a broken 78 in the market. Will try dissolving in meths when I get home. What can go wrong...... The container holding the meths dissolves too..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 I’ve started dissolving bits of an old 78 in meths. Using a glass jar. What can I use this mixture for? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 5, 2018 Author Share Posted September 5, 2018 My Shellac flakes arrived this morning, no instructions though, can anyone tell me what proportion to mix? Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 My Shellac flakes arrived this morning, no instructions though, can anyone tell me what proportion to mix? Steve. Lots of answers on Google. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 5, 2018 Author Share Posted September 5, 2018 Thanks Dave, I've tried looking but I found them a bit confusing as they mentioned stuff like a 1lb cut and I couldn't find any metric stuff, I just wondered if someone had an easy formula. Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold mikes rail Posted September 6, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 6, 2018 Years ago when I used shellac for wood finishing I used to just cover the flakes with the meths if mix was to thick when dissolved just added a little more meths' hope this helps Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 6, 2018 Author Share Posted September 6, 2018 Ok, thanks Mike. Sounds pretty straightforward, I didn't think of thinning it down if needed. Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 24, 2018 Author Share Posted September 24, 2018 (edited) A quick question, I've just painted my card with Shellac, how long should I wait before another coat or sanding it? It seems pretty dry after an hour and I'm guessing I will be ok after 24hrs to do anymore work on it? Steve. Edited September 24, 2018 by sb67 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 A quick question, I've just painted my card with Shellac, how long should I wait before another coat or sanding it? It seems pretty dry after an hour and I'm guessing I will be ok after 24hrs to do anymore work on it? Steve. Because of it's nature, the second coat will soften the first a little. I would wait overnight between coats and 2 days befor rubbing down. When you start rubbing you will soon know if the times right. I always produced extra material for testing that part. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted September 25, 2018 Author Share Posted September 25, 2018 Because of it's nature, the second coat will soften the first a little. I would wait overnight between coats and 2 days befor rubbing down. When you start rubbing you will soon know if the times right. I always produced extra material for testing that part. Dave Thanks Dave, I waited 24 hrs before the 2nd coat. I'll give it another day before I sand it down then paint over it. Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now