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I posted this before, but in the wrong section. I'm in the middle of restoring a US&S searchlight signal. I want to restore it to a near factory condition as built for the SP. What I need to know is if the hood and front of the target were painted flat, semi-gloss, or gloss black. I've seen pictures showing all three. I've restored this dwarf before, and a coat of flat black looks good, but i want this to be correct.
The issue is that hoods and backgrounds get repainted all the time by the maintainers, and they just use the paint they can get their hands on from either buying it themselves at the store, or a foreman/supervisor buying paint. And most if not all of that paint is just bought at the hardware store in rattle cans, so it's what ever was picked up.
My assumption is they should be flat black. The idea of hoods and backgrounds is to make the signal light standout and block out other light.
The S.P. mixed their own aluminum paint for all signals from 1929 onward. The spectacle faces, targets and hoods were painted flat black, period. The problem with your signal is that 8-3/8" stepped optical lens. It MUST be a compound pair of ground plano-convex lenses IF the mechanism and reflector say; "Style H-2". If its states; "Style H" there must not be a lens barrel mounted on the front of the searchlight casing, only a lens ring and stepped lens.
