Coming along nice man !!

Thank you!

Keeping it going again tonight.

Pulled the toms off and started with the hardware.

The original collets are cast and are severly cracked. I have replaced the four that mount the tom to the tom arms and the arms to the "T" support bar. Given the many choices of exact replacement NOS, 1960s machined and newly manufactured, I went with the machined collets that are manufactured today.

The hardware appear not to have been cleaned for years. There is a lot of wear on these pieces I assume from repeated assembly and deassembly. There were black magic marker marks noting setting depth on the tom arms, many scratches but the chrome remained in tact. A lot of dirt in the "T" support bar threads.

Cleaning these took all evening.

Here are the old versus new collets.

I could not tighten the cast collets enough to lock the toms in place. The set was just not usable as a result. Somehow this did not result in the previous owner scratching the toms. It may explain the scratches on top of the base drum.

The new machined collets work flawlessly. The threading is exact and they tighten perfectly.

Not period correct but it is one of the few compromises I will make

Finally the results of the cleaning and polishing.

I used Brasso as recommended by this site. No reason to need anything else so far. The hardware now has a nice luster. It just takes time to pick off the grunge deep in the corners and threads before polishing.

These I will not lubricate for fear of tom movement.

A couple shots of the toms before cleaning.

Sizes are 8 x 12 and 9 x 13

These are in nealy perfect shape. Just need a good cleaning.

You really have to look closely to find anything at all on the chrome or wrap.

When purchased, the tone controls were missing and the head on the 9x13 had a hole in it. I replaced tone controls with period correct pieces and replaced the broken head with an Aquarian Performance II (which happened to be the closest to what was on the other toms and available at my favorite music store (Russo's in Trenton, NJ)).

The coming clean up will result in new Remo Ambassadors in top for each. I will leave the Evans clear on the bottoms.

There appears to be a blue ink on the underside of the 9 x 13 on the head. When I cleaned the bass drum, I wiped blue ink from it. Came right off. Wish me luck on this...

A few days later I pulled the heads of the toms.

The ink, or whatever it is, was what I was most concerned about.

These four pictures tell the story.

The stain was about two and a half inches across on the bottom of the 9 x 13.

Something has been poured into the the rim and onto the inside of the head. As mentioned earlier, I wiped a small amount off the top of the bass drum so I knew it would come off the wrap easily.

Whatever. It was a disappointment considering the overall condition but there has to be something I guess and at least its not structural.

I wiped using windex multi-surface with vinegar for two hours until there was little ink coming up. And then dried wiped drawing the moisture off the shell.

I wiped down the wrap on both toms. I will clean the chrome and wax the wrap next.

While disassembling the toms, one other problem was discovered. The washers from the underside tension rods on the 8 x 12 are all missing. The only washers missing on the kit.

I am on the look out for 6 washers.

While cleaning the tension rods, I noticed that there are three with a shorter thread. Yes, just three. Was this a factory oversight or something that happened over their 38 years? Yet another kit curiosity.

The cleaning and polishing of the shells revealed the many tiny scratches on the chrome and wrap, visible only at close inspection.

While reassembling with the new ambassador heads, I saw the last remaining paper badge laying on the floor. I used Elmer’s glue, placing a small amount in my hand until it became tacking and then spreading the paste onto the backing that remained on the shell interior. I then gently laid the badge onto the backing.

The toms cleaned up very nicely. I look forward to reassembling the kit in the sun room on a sunny day and getting a picture of the kit.

Really looking nice and great pictures to boot !!