Yeah, I know... Apologies. It's been nuts around here.

Stopped by Bentleys on vacation this week for the first time and Dana was kind enough to show me his collection. WOW is the only word that comes to mind. Truly a good dude and a nice store to check out.

Cool! did you notice any light blue colored Hayman drums?

Dana sure is a nice guy, the little I spoke with him on the teleyphone I could jut tell.

What have I been telling you guys! lol

Okee dokee,

Just an update: The Hayman's aren't ready yet. Dana's been super busy doing stuff, as have I.

He's likely pleased that I've been busy, since I haven't had time to go in and bug him!

Yes, I saw them. They looked very nice.

Cool! thanks for the report.

Well now... First, let's talk soft metal badge cleaning. The first picture shows these badges as received. Old lacquer, crud and tarnish. Some cleaning had been done, but that old crud is hard to get off. Here's where my old clock shop experience comes in handy. Dana wanted these badges to tarnish again - to add to the ambiance of the drums. I agree with that by the way. Bright and shiney forever badges wouldn't look right on this kit. So, we need to get the old crud off, NOT finish them (so they'll re-oxidize), and get 'em flat, as they had the wrong 'bend' too.

Cleaning is the easy part. Any old ammonia will do. I'd suggest grocery store or hardware store ammonia though. It's already cut with water. Put the items in a covered container. Plastic works best, as some metal containers could leach oxide off the container walls and deposit that on the item being cleaned. That's not fun... Let the sun do your work for you.

Depending on the temperature, the cleaning should take about one to two hours. That's it. Grab an old toothbrush to get any old lacquer off. You're finished.

More pictures of badge cleaning:

And here's the drums: