Milwards Steeltip

[Coral Maestro]

I came across this rod a while back and it shows what an innovative company Milwards were. It is listed in their season 1938-39 catalogue:



The rod that I have is painted in a battleship grey colour which has been varnished over and now looks almost brown (as the varnish has aged). The original colour can be seen where the varnish has flaked off:





Apologies for the quality of the pictures, must do better!
As you can see it's going to be an interesting restoration. I've hunted down a couple of different grey Humbrol Enamel paints and I'm hoping I can get a close colour match. Do you think this is a suitable paint or maybe you can suggest something better?

[CWK]

Could it be that an enamel paint would lack the ability to flex on the top joint without crazing / cracking ?. Would have thought that an automotive paint ( Halfords ) might be more suitable ....

[Duckett]

Can I just second what CWK says about Humbrol enamel. My experience is railway modelling scenery. Enamel is fine for plastic and metal models that won’t move or flex but anything that might flex needs Humbrol acrylics. They dry quickly and flex without cracking in my experience and I have used them on wood and polystyrene. However, they do need undercoat.

I’ve never thought of them being used on cane rods bit some of the restorers here must have experience of with whole can sections painted black, such as the Allcocks Viking.

One other thought, is your grey paint or stain?

Phil

[Coral Maestro]

It says "special non-flash grey finish" in the catalogue which is not particularly helpful! Where the varnish has flaked off it looks like paint rather than stain but I can't be certain. Thanks for the suggestion regarding Humbrol acrylic paint. I'll have to investigate further before making a decision.

[Reedling]

Out of interest are both sections of the splice steel, or is the top of tip section a natural material. Is the metal steel(magnetic) or a non magnetic alloy. Have you given the rod a bend yet to make sure it is all ok as the meeting of ferrule to blank may have corroded.

[Wallys-Cast]

If you are stripping the rod completely a spray can may be best. I think grey metal primer would look nice once flattened off and varnished over.
Masking the Milwards logo will be tricky though.

Wal.

[Duckett]

Following on from what Wal said, Humbrol acrylic primer is available in spray cans. I use it for covering largish (N Gauge is a lot smaller than the Hornby 00 Gauge that most people know) areas of scenery and bases. So long as you clean the nozzle regularly it’s fairly easy to apply evenly and it dries quite quickly. It’s flat matte grey similar to the colour of galvanised nails in my opinion.

Phil

[Coral Maestro]

Out of interest are both sections of the splice steel, or is the top of tip section a natural material. Is the metal steel(magnetic) or a non magnetic alloy. Have you given the rod a bend yet to make sure it is all ok as the meeting of ferrule to blank may have corroded.

The top part of the tip section is tubular steel and attracts a magnet. The lower part is whole cane as the nodes have been whipped over. I guess that Milwards were aware of the possibility of galvanic corrosion if they'd put tubular steel into the ferrule. It has quite a stiff action in the top section when bent so I would suggest it would make a good rod for quick biting fish such as roach and dace.
I'm not sure why they whipped intermediates up the steel section however!

[Reedling]

That sounds like good thinking with the splice, its a wonder taperflash type rods did not use the same thinking re ferrules. I look forward to hearing about and seeing the finished rod and your christening and opinion of its action on the bank.

[Coral Maestro]

That sounds like good thinking with the splice, its a wonder taperflash type rods did not use the same thinking re ferrules. I look forward to hearing about and seeing the finished rod and your christening and opinion of its action on the bank.

I'll put some pictures up once it's done. In the meantime i'll be looking around our local bricos to find a Humbrol grey primer equivalent.