Helice Levasseur prop

[Bob Gardner]

I refer to the scandalous comment above about tire collectors. Firstly the correct term is tyre. I deplore the Americanisation of the English language. Secondly I am the president of the Tyre Collectors Club. Your suggestion that no-one collects tyres is uninformed rubbish. I am tyred of such comments. I myself have four on my car at the moment.

[pmdec]

Originally Posted by Bob Gardner

.../...
I myself have four on my car at the moment.

Four? Like this guy:




Not sure you can use this trick to have somebody helping (do you see the small white and yellow squares on the boots? Are the whites faded or the yellow discolored? Perhaps it is not important in this case...):



Please note the second image address is in UK... Something else than props (or tyres) to collect there?

Regards,
PM

I am not sure all this will help Biggles... But does he needs help anyway?
In case he does, I add for free a fifth tyre (stricken) element:

[Dbahnson]

Originally Posted by Bob Gardner

I refer to the scandalous comment above about tire collectors. Firstly the correct term is tyre. I deplore the Americanisation of the English language. Secondly I am the president of the Tyre Collectors Club. Your suggestion that no-one collects tyres is uninformed rubbish. I am tyred of such comments. I myself have four on my car at the moment.

OK, tiyers they are.

[F.D.M]

Somebody is drifting...

PM, about your decals. All your decals have / had white propellers in my opinion.

The last decal is discolourised as you mention by yourself. When you add yellow to blue it turns green. The yellow in this case being the varnish. It is indeed another version with different text, I haven't come across yet. Thanks for sharing.

The second decal is in good original condition with a white, slightly discoloured, propeller.

The first one is tricky. The golden letters do not 'pass' from being gold to white. They just wear off or dissolve when the varnish is affected. The white you see instead of the gold is actually a ground layer of the decal. This could be some sort of glue film / glue varnish wich is used to apply the decal. It also explaines why the propeller is discolourised and the white underneath the letters is not. Some French decals have become completely white and have lost all their colour. This can also be seen with Tonquilaque decals. There is white underneath the colours. Some colours are more affected then others, maybe because of their chemical composition. I don't know. If you ask me, this is typical for French decals. So I expect it had something to do with their process of manufacturing decals or applying decals.

All the above is my opinion wich I base upon my observations.

What do you think? Is it possible / plausible?

Best regards,

[pmdec]

Originally Posted by F.D.M

.../...
The first one is tricky. The golden letters do not 'pass' from being gold to white. They just wear off or dissolve when the varnish is affected. The white you see instead of the gold is actually a ground layer of the decal. This could be some sort of glue film / glue varnish wich is used to apply the decal. It also explaines why the propeller is discolourised and the white underneath the letters is not. Some French decals have become completely white and have lost all their colour. This can also be seen with Tonquilaque decals. There is white underneath the colours. Some colours are more affected then others, maybe because of their chemical composition. I don't know. If you ask me, this is typical for French decals. So I expect it had something to do with their process of manufacturing decals or applying decals.
.../...

Yes, it was I said using "wash". "Wear out" is probably better. Many (French) decals have a white layer underneath, then other colors are piled up, but the way it has been done is not ever clear.
For Tonkilaque, it seems simple: white then blue and yellow then gold (the opposite way when made, for sure). Look at the pics: some have scratches, but I have tried to put the more "washed" (worn out) on the right.

As they have yellow/gold AND white, no mistake is possible. So, why the white of Tonkilaque decals is never yellow? Because there is no varnish upon the decal? But many French props have decals without varnish on them, even on non-lacquered ones. So?

Regards,
PM

[Biggles1946]

Hi Guys, it looks like we are not getting much further and we are diverging from the subject in hand. I guess I am going to collect tyres or... I may even start collecting Wellington Boots. They looked rather attractive,

[Bob Gardner]

Biggles dear boy,

I believe you are correct and that this thread has run its course. Perhaps the salient point is: Don't over-restore your WW1 prop. It's supposed to look like a WW1 propeller, not a new replica.

One point that niggles at the back of my mind and Pierre-Michel's is how is it possible for a restoration process to almost sand off the data stamped on the hub whilst leaving the Levasseur decal untouched.

TTFN,

Bob

[pmdec]

Hi,

For me it is "of the same wood" (in both significations) that this one:
http://woodenpropeller.com/forumvB/s...ead.php?t=2762
This time, it is not the mounting marks which ruin any old attribution, but the decals. It is time to strip them and to try again!

The pics come from the "old" thread when it was active.

Regards
PM