Voit 50 Fathom headed for the paint booth...

[Greg Barlow]

Those of you that attended Portage saw me drooling over the Voit 50 Fathom reg that I obtained from Dacor Jerry. I have wanted a nice example for around five years. Personally, I don't think that there has ever been a more attractive double hose reg.

Well, I talked to several of the guys about having the brass cases repainted. Of course, the problem in painting a reg of that era is attempting to match the paint. My brother restores vintage cars for a living, and I spent a considerable amount of time discussing the issue with him. His recommendation was to duplicate the original metallic blue, but in a modern base coat/clear coat finish. I headed to a highly reputable car paint shop where a gentlemen with 30+ years of mixing auto paint used a DuPont paint scanner to match the original paint. He scanned three different areas, and ran the results through DuPont's software. It came up with a match, that has just a bit more metal flake. I had him mix me a pint, and paid the bill. Let me tell those who have no experience in body work, such custom colors are not cheap. This pint had a price tag of just shy of $50.

Yeah, the paint will have more sheen due to the clear coat, but it should be a thing of beauty. I am also having an etching primer applied, which allows the primer to chemically bond to the brass. The original paint is a baked enamel finish. There isn't even any primer applied to the metal. When I closely examined paint chips, no sign of primer was found. Also, the interior of the hose horns shows little overspray.

I was a bit concerned about the final color not being an "exact" match. My brother, and the paint mixer, both told me that prior to the 80's, paint was all mixed by hand with resonable accuracy from lot-to-lot. They both said that if we compared ten regs side-by-side we could likely pick out at least three different shades. So, I guess considering that I am going to have a paint job that is comparable to any original, then I can live with the fact that I am going to be stripping the original paint off tomorrow evening. After all, how many of us would pay to have a vintage car restored, and not have the modern paints applied?

Now, a nice set of reproduction gray hoses, some Tinnermans (or Voit marked black nylon ones) and it should look pretty nice.

BTW, anyone have some 1" Voit marked hose clamps? I have two real nice 1.5", but need the smaller ones to make it more original.

Now, when this project is all finished, I have a Voit Navy that is waiting for a trip to Bryan and Sir Chromealot. After I saw Captain's beautiful Voit Lung, I just had to make a commitment to make my Navy look good. Let me tell those of you who haven't see Captain's Voit Lung up close, you are missing a work of art!

I still love my MR12's, but the hunt is on for more Voit double hosers!

Greg

[1969ivan1]

It is about time you got on board with the double hose regulators dude. Yep, I like the way that LUNG turned out as well. Perhaps I will rechrome mine. I guess I better sell a lot more shirts first.

[Greg Barlow]

Well, my 50 Fathom is nearly complete. I am awaiting two pairs of the gray reproduction hoses. I am very pleased with the paint job. The shop owner said that it was tough to paint the two cans. He said that all of the bends and holes made it tough to avoid sags in the finish. You couldn't tell it from the finished product!

I also disassembled, cleaned, and shipped my Voit Navy to Dennis at Sir Chrome-A-Lot. He had many compliments for Bryan. I can only hope that it will come back looking like that fabulous Voit Lung that Captain owns.

I need a nice Voit gray mouthpiece for that reg. The original is not too hard, but there are numerous cracks in the areas that fit between the lips and gums. If anyone has a nice one, I would be willing to trade some gear for it, or buy it outright.

Dang, now I am broke for a few months....

Greg

[Greg Barlow]

I am attempting to attach some photos of the reg, but am not having much luck. Can anyone give me some pointers? They are 3.2meg photos that are copied directly from my Olympus camera in a picture file.

Thanks.

Greg Barlow

[simonbeans]

There are many ways to do that. You could put them on a hosting site, like Photobucket. Or if you want, email me the photo and I can put it on my hosting site and then link it to this one.
Allan

[Greg Barlow]

Allan, if you will privately send me your email address, I will send them through. Thanks.

Greg

[kgehring]

Here are a couple of pics of Greg"s SWEEEEEEEEET 50 Fathom!

[scubajim1]

All I can say is "WOW"

That is a nice looking regultator.

scubajim1

[JES]

Awesome!

Your Voit 50 Fathom is now a regulator to be extremely proud of.

[Greg Barlow]

Thanks for the compliments. I am very thrilled with it.

Greg