Rusty Heathkit S–99 Cabinet Respray & Front Panel Perspex?

[Chris55000]

Hi!

Can any experienced Members give me some instructions for preparing and respraying this rusty Heathkit S–99 cabinet please?

The seller said "it's been stored away in a shed for over thirty years since the old boy who last used it died".

Also can anyone advise me what will get rid of the grotty old yakky stuff that Heathkit used to secure the front panel Perspex to the chassis without taking all the paint with it?

Chris Williams

The cabinet, it is elbow grease, primer and top coat, stuff from Halfords is good.Trying to get the Perspex off, do you have to? I have had success cutting through that thick sticky stuff used for number plates by making a "saw" of thread with many knots in it.

[qualityten]

I've just resprayed my S-99 chassis. I used Halfords etch primer and one of the BMW metallic silver colours. I matched it to the chassis of one of my Heathkit MA12s. I just today threw out the empty spray can, so I can't say which one. Here is a picture. I could take another in the daytime if you want to see the truer colour.

[Bazz4CQJ]

Mmmm, Halford's etch primer or Isopon's Zinc 182 Grey Anti-Rust Primer (also sold by Halfords) ?
I'm fairly sure the latter is a primer containing zinc phosphate and is very useful when dealing with something that is already rusty. You may get most/all the surface rust off the chassis, but some may be left in pits.

B

[G6Tanuki]

Though my interest is more in WWII-and-later Military stuff, my approach when faced with a similarly-grotty steel cabinet is to 'pickle' it in a strong Sodium Hydroxide solution for a couple of weeks; this will digest away the legacy paint and eat into the rust.

Then jet-wash the thing to remove any remains of the NaOH, dryu, and apply a _very_ light coating of an acid-etch primer.

"U-Pol Acid #8" is my current easy-to-obtain choice [Halfords, or Frost]. You only apply enough of this to _just_ cover the underlying metal. Similar etch-primers are available from places dealing with aviation-restoration.

Then after it's dried good and hard [put it in the oven after you've finished roasting a chicken!] apply topcoat to your choice.

If doing the NaOH treatment, a plastic dustbin is advised; don't use any sort of aluminium container, or it will dissolve. Equally, a good strong NaOH solution painfully digests skin/flesh just as well as it does paint and rust - so wear suitable PPE!

NaOH is available cheaply from farm-suppliers; dairymen use it to remove congealed fat from milking machines and so get through loads of it.

[qualityten]

Originally Posted by Bazz4CQJ

Mmmm, Halford's etch primer or Isopon's Zinc 182 Grey Anti-Rust Primer (also sold by Halfords) ?

Just basic Halford's etch primer.

[mole42uk]

You won’t recover the front panel. The double-sided tape has reacted with the paint on the Perspex front and it’s a goner. Either live with it or plan to re-create the panel from scratch.

I’ve owned three S-99 amplifiers.