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    Gary Albach
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    As mentioned in an earlier post, the Model 542T was described as being ‘a little set with “hybrid” cosmetics.’ The case looks like the Model 440T but the knobs are the same as were used on the Hopalong Cassidy Model 441T (i.e. black with silver centres). There is little information on the colours that were offered, and so I chose to paint this one red, like one of the ‘Hoppy’ colours. The original colour of this set was probably cream, as evidenced by some overspray inside, but at some time the set had been repainted ivory and the new paint was badly blemished with fisheyes as shown in Figure 1.

    Stripping the paint revealed the metal case, typical of Inexpensive Arvins of this vintage, shown in Figure 2. I primed the case with coats of grey metal primer, sanded between coats with #400 wet, and then sprayed on several coats of red lacquer. I normally use Valspar automotive spray paint that I have custom mixed locally and topcoat with a clear spray of automotive acrylic lacquer. But in this case, my wife spotted a can of red Dupli-Color ‘Perfect Match’ acrylic spray paint at Canadian Tire in a close match to the Model 440 ‘Fox Hunt’ red as shown in a 1950’s Arvin magazine advertisement, so that’s what I used. The finish picked up a few dust nibs, so I lightly wet sanded it and gave it a topcoat with Dupli-Color Acrylic Lacquer. That was a mistake. I thought the two Dupli-Color products would be compatible but even after several weeks, the clear topcoat was still slightly sticky. So I rubbed it off with #0000 steel wool and gave the case a final coat of the red Dupli-Color spray, being careful of dust and with no topcoat this time. The result was a very handsome case, as shown in Figure 3.

    Next I’ll post pictures of how I molded the missing knob and fabricated the two silver knob inserts.
    Gary

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