The Slow Methodical Plodding Along

So I don't know if I have the most horrible luck or what, but my Silver Surfer project is taking a long time. So far I have completed...nothing. Well, nothing isn't quite true. The cover of the old Lettera is coming along nicely. The body still needs the paint sanded off. Initially, I tried using acetone and it worked to some degree. The paint didn't peel off in one sheet. It just became soft enough to scrape off with an old paint stirrer.

After the paint was scraped and the surface cleaned, the aluminum looked heavily scratched and pitted.. It was probably made that way to give the paint an excellent key. That would be great for old paint that looked wonderful, but the putty color on the Olivetti was really unpleasant. I needed to sand a lot.

Starting with a 65 grit block I was able to get the paint off. It worked, but the work was slow. I might try to find one of those sanding disks that mount into a portable drill. Speed might get that ugly paint to vanish. 150 followed the 65. After that was a succession of finer and finer grit papers; 250, 400, 600, and 1500. As of tonight, I just need to buff out the micro-scratches that make the surface look brushed. I know there are buffing wheels at ACE, so I am going to get one of those.

The work looks great and I can't wait to finish and get to typing. Below is an adequate, but not very accurate picture of the cover.

Looking shiny!

Another angle, same model.

 I think I will be done some time next week.

Lonely Typewriter

Summer school is in full swing and the students are already using the machines. We are just about 1-to-1 in student-to-typewriter ratio. This allows the kids to choose a typewriter and keep it at their desk. This one ,complete with a story about a first football game, was left mid-word. The author will return to the story on Monday.

Water, Water Everywhere

On the Bench

Silver Surferizing is all the rage. I've been sucked in with a Lettera that needed a little attention. All I am willing to show, yet, is an uncovered typewriter, but soon it will be ready to share.

Pride

Royal Goes to War

In honor of Memorial Day I wanted to look back into Royal's war-time advertising past.

Royal's wartime advertising is interesting. Shortly after war was declared the company followed the tenor of the nation and ran patriotic advertisements. The first two full-page ads (below) come from early 1942 and are the most overtly patriotic. As time went on, though, Royal knew that it must keep its product line in the mind of a population who couldn't buy them. The war stretched on and the Royal's advertising changed focus from patriotic populism to helpful and informational ads. The remainder of the ads I have posted are these information type. In the middle of the war Royal started pushing their Roytype ribbons and carbons. I am sure that management knew that they could not count on war profits forever. They would need to grow the business in the only way they could until production picked up after the war.

This push for revenue from accessories is not seen from Smith-Corona. Smith-Corona did run wartime advertisement, but the tone of SC's work was more patriotic throughout the war. They did not work on the pushing branded accessories and authorized repair centers. I don't even know if SC had their own ribbon and carbon paper brand.

Regardless, the efforts of Royal's Madison Ave. wizards must have paid off because Royal was very successful after the war. They were so successful, that McBee, Litton, and Olivetti all purchased the company albeit at different phases in its history.

Dear Typosphere

Of course, you can still find this blog at the old address http://magicmargin.blogspot.com