RW27752 restored

[Andrew]

I bought this sad paint splattered RW a few weeks ago on Ebay. The photos didn't tell much but it didn't look good, however I took a punt as it was a sz48 and something that would potentially fit. When it arrived it was everything I expected and more- more paint and it fit better than I hoped.

I took the advice of Victor, CBI and Jeff K and went and bought some nail polish remover (acetone) and qtips and set to work on it.
Here's Victors advice: ""acetone-water mix, with a q-tip. if the paint is not coming off, go to straight acetone. apply gently only on the affected area. you may need a dull pocket knife to scrape the loosened paint off. if the jac is veg-analine you may have some original color coming off. a touch up with oil paint or leather paint of the same color [you should mix and or blend to match] will do the trick. let dry, and dab some pecards if needed. ive done it, it works. oh, one other ingredient: patience.""
It took a while as i had to work slowly for fear of removing too much original dye but found that as the paint or whatever it was, was a thin coating it came off really easily and only had the effect of slightly relocating the dye on the surface. Once it dried i applied a very light application of pecards to moisturize it.

After about two weeks i've finished it (save for a few tiny patches) and i'm wrapped in the result. It's now clean again and is a huge improvement on what it was. Thanks for all the help everyone.

and for fun...

 

[arclight]

Andrew;
That is phenominal! Great job. I commend you highly on your labor of love Sir.

Regards.........Tom

 

[Clark J]

WOW!!!!!Looks great!That was a big sized jacket if I remember correctly??

 

[Mac]

Outstanding job! Any remaining specks just add character. Now just don't paint any houses while wearing it!

Mac

 

[TankBuster]

That's AWESOME!! I'm glad it worked out so well for you. What a great jacket in a big size, and the AAF decal is a nice bonus as well. Now that's what you can call jacket sweat equity!

 

[deeb7]

After about two weeks i've finished it (save for a few tiny patches) and i'm wrapped in the result.

wrapped in the result ..... I like it.

 

[dujardin]

well done

congrats for your labour

as John said, hard work pay ....

total respect

byeeeeeee marcel

 

[CBI]

what a deal - great work!

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Amazing turnaround. Great job!

 

[better duck]

Very well done, I can well imagine you getting wrapped up in the result, as you call it! It must have felt great to have the first experience of the paint coming of rather easily, and then going through the process and seeing the jacket improving all the time.
The end result is great. Apart from everything else you have improved the value of the jacket greatly!

 

[Cobblers161]

Superb job well done Andrew, thanks for showing.

 

[Marv]

Fantastic results on a great jacket.....well done, glad all the hard work has paid off

 

[Andrew]

Yep, the results were certainly surprising and I'm really happy it wasn't all that hard to remove. Continual wetting of the qtip and a circular motion pretty easily shifted it. I'm a little sorry that the undertones are less pronounced with the shifted dye but it's better in this condition than before and they'll probably come back if it's worn a bit. I'd recommend trying this technique in similar circumstances.

Peter, sorry I slipped with a bit of "Strine"- Deeb picked it up. "Wrapped" means really happy

The problem I now have is I dont want to part with it, it's another stinky Brown jacket (wife comment) and it puts me further away from a new one :lol:

For those that know, any comments on how this looks compared to the pics of the new ELC Roughwear?

 

[jack aranda]

That's a nice bit of work you've done with that jacket, Andrew. It looks great and you deserve every moment of pleasure you get wearing it. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Grant]

Incredible restoration Andrew. It's cool to see forum members offering advice that leads to such amazing results.

 

[atkins]

Andrew, this thread should named 'Restoring 101'. Thank you for the knowledge, very inspiring. Congrats!

 

[Roughwear]

Fantastic result Andrew. The RW is a very good fit too. What are the measurements of the jacket as I know RWs from this contract can be smaller than other makers' jackets tagged the same size? I once owned a tagged 44 27752 which was in reality a 40! The colour of jackets from this contract vary from russet to seal. The ELC RW is seal whilst yours has plenty of russet undertones. I'm glad you are going to keep this terrific A2.

 

[Peter Graham]

Great results Andrew, and a lovely jacket. I'll bet you wouldn't want to do that again in a hurry. I know how tedious it can be.

 

[Silver Surfer]

outstanding! that magic ingredient, patience, really paid off. nicely handled, andrew.