17 Pounder AP Shot

[peregrinvs]

Got this today for £20. Well rusted, but unfired with intact drive bands.

Dilemma: Do I try and give it a full filler and paint make over? (Not easy given the amount of metal loss and I don’t own a lathe to evenly smooth it off) Or do I just clean it up and go with the ‘corroded metal has a certain aesthetic quality of its own’ approach?

What do others think?

 

[glevum]

I would clean it up as is.

 

[flak18]

I would clean it up as is.

I agree....as it is it retains all it's integrity and history. Nice.

 

[peregrinvs]

Finished and looking much better IMVHO. I used a mixture of paint stripper and the ‘Backyard Ballistics’ rust chelating solution recipe to clean it back to bare metal. Then I polished the body with a steel rotary brush and the drive bands with a brass rotary brush. The 17PR case had been an empty spare, so that’s worked out nicely.