Melanie has got to stop bring home, this stuff from her mothers. But this was her dads and I would at least like to clean it up and maybe fix what is missing.

So here it is.



Base is a 90 MM. M 90 shell base.



Feet looks to be 3 - .45 rounds.

Cigarette holders look to be .45 shell casings cut in thirds the length of the case. One is missing of each of those is missing..




There are two more shell casings cut and soldered to the inside center of it. Can’t read the cal.s

And one, the pointed round on the top, looks to be some Jap round.




Now the man who made this was Melanie’s Dad and was at Guadalcanal, and was one of the finest men I ever met. So I would like to clean it up and make it look right. Replace the missing parts.

So any of you what is a good brass cleaner and grung cleaner to clean the ashtray?

Thanks.

Steve


.

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Brasso? It got me through many inspections in the Army. I also have some Aluminum cleaner that works on the Revere Ware pot and pan bottoms. Once clean, you should probably spray the 90mm round with clear coat or it will corrode/oxidize again. You can also buff the clean round with a buffing wheel. Other than what I suggested, I don't know of anything else. I got the Brasso at China Mart and I know how much you like them.

Brasso, + that purple and orange cloth. (and a lotta elbow grease)
That's how I used to shine my stuff.

OK I have some Brasso someplace in the shop, but how do I solder the parts on that are missing?
Well I was wrong, it is all dried up.
Melanie is soaking it in dish detergent and water now to try and get the old dirt and cigarette Residue off.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-07-2010).]

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: OK I have some Brasso someplace in the shop, but how do I solder the parts on that are missing? Melanie is soaking it in dish detergent and water now to try and get the old dirt and cigarette Residue off. Steve

As large as the piece is, you will probably need a torch to solder because a soldering iron doesn't have enough heat to melt solder. I'd do the soldering first because you'll have to clean the round again. Probably should use emery cloth or 500 grit and finer sandpaper to buff the round enough to make the solder stick. Not sure but I think you can use solder for plumbing. Electrical solder is a 60/40 mix of tin and lead but probably has a rosin core. It would work ok in my estimation but others may have a better idea. I have never done this type of work--only copper pipe soldering and electronic work.

A pencil propane torch should work ok, and they are very inexpensive to buy and operate.

I would NOT remove the patina on any old collectable
years of watching the roadshow teaches people to leave old stuff as is
polishing off age is not a good idea

items like that are called trench art and can have quite a bit of value
esp if you can prove the Guadalcanal connection
if you replace any missing bits you should use old period parts
like a WW2 era 45 case not a newer one

People from "that time" were certainly much more industrious and actually KNEW how to do things with their hands.

My grandfather had one too that he made when he was in his 30s (back in the 50s). It was a pretty common thing that a lot of vets did.

I agree with RayB, I wouldn't polish it... just keep it as is. Maybe clean up the inside a bit, but you probably don't want to really change the patina or anything.

------------------
Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

quote Originally posted by maryjane: A pencil propane torch should work ok, and they are very inexpensive to buy and operate.

I have several of those.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: I don’t think we could ever sell it more making it presentable for the house. It looks like he used a 45 round for the feet. That I can find out for sure later. Like I said her dad made it and was at Guadalcanal where he made it is another story. While he was over seas but where overseas we can not be sure. Steve

If you can find out what outfit her Dad was in, google it and the records are pretty complete for WWII.

The round is a 90mm and is too big to be a tank round for that era. My guess is that it was an antiaircraft round and the bottom cut off and made into an ashtray. Later tanks (M-26, M-46, M-47, M-48s etc) used 90mm guns and we often made ashtrays or cut them for souvenirs when I was in Korea after the Korean War. (The M-26 entered the war very late but was in WWII) We found them on tank ranges before the Koreans got them brass was very valuable to them.

Most units on Guadacanal were Army outfits under MacArthur while the Marines were tearing up Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and other pieces of real estate under Bull Halsey. The reason I tell you all these things is because it may help find where your wife's dad served and what kind of outfit he was in.

I was also going to caution against cleaning off the patina. Cleaning it up will ruin any value it may have had. But if you really don't care about the piece's value, you should be able to clean it up with Brasso and a rag.

Steve,

I can't view most pictures at work. Soapy water and then try a product called Never Dull. It comes in a can. It's a polishing agent soaked into wads of a cotton ball type material. You can use small chunks or larger chunks. (Sorry, I didn't want to say you can pull off a big wad or pull off just a small wad.) After you rub the Never Dull in, it's very easy to wipe clean. Brasso gets too messy.

She has her dads paperwork is somewhere here but we never looked into it. He was a radioman so he was right next to the artillery.

But that would be interesting to know, if we can.

The thing is cleaning up great and the other shell casings calibers are more visible. I will take some more pictures next time she pulls it out of the hot water bath then she used the brasso and it looks amazing.

I am going to bring it to a friend who owns a pawn shot and was a marine during WWII. He will know for sure if the feet are 45 and probably have a round laying around I can have.

It really is a peace of history from then and her dad did make it so that there has more value than money to her.

The bigger shell in the middle is a 37MM MK 11A V64SC




And the next one the only numbers we can see are 320 42 and then a diamond shape with an R inside it. (Trademark)?







Melanie is going to try and find the papers later but knowing more about his service record would be nice. I never got a chance to talk to him about it much.

Where would we go?

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

That is cool as all get out. I have always just LOVED trench art. At one point I had a nice collection of Zippo trench art. Most of it was legit, some I found out later was mass reproductions. But all cool none the less.

Very nice!!
I once had a spitfire plane made out of an old UK penny Unfortunately, when my Parents died, it went to Canada It was very precious to me. I have replicated it several times, and sold them on. I'll try to find an old UK penny, and make another one.
The ground crew during the WW11 used to make them and sell them, thereby making their meagre pay worth quite a bit more .
I'll try to make one to show how it was done.
Nice memory Steve and Mel
Nick

Heres a link to odtain military records (DD-214)

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/

I had to get records re-made for my Dad as his where destroyed in a fire at the NPRC in 1973. Their still working on them.

Nick

Near the end of the war my father traded a ration of whiskey for this Corsair.
He was a pilot with VPB-124 (PB4Y-2B Privateers) on Okinawa.
60 years later he made the translucent prop disk to add a little realism.

[This message has been edited by cone shark (edited 10-09-2010).]

Awesome thread!!!

Very nice piece, as far as cleaning and shining it up, I'm not sure I would but if that was my goal, I'd look for a sonic cleaning tank. Jewelers normally have them but I doubt they would be big enough for your ashtray. If that doesn't work, I guess you're back to elbow grease and Brasso. Have fun.

Ron

I like the Corsair ham rig in the background of Cone Shark's pictures of an F4U Corsair.

WB5GSA

The 90 MM round has these numbers on the bottom

90 MM M 19 Lot 6268-17 F.A. 1941

How that could be hunted down to find out where it was sent is another story.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: The 90 MM round has these numbers on the bottom 90 MM M 19 Lot 6268-17 F.A. 1941 How that could be hunted down to find out where it was sent is another story. Steve

I googled "M 19 90mm" and discovered it was indeed an anti-aircraft round--probably meant to explode at a certain altitude with a timed fuse or proximity fuse. Later models of the 90mm ack-ack gun were radar guided and very accurate but not effective against Soviet bombers flying at 40,000 feet because they simply couldn't shoot eight miles high. I remember GIs telling me about being stationed with a 90mm antiaircraft outfit in the 50s or 60s (not sure of the decade) so they had a long life for the military. The very effective German 88mm of WWII was originally an antiaircraft gun and Rommel used them to wreak havoc at Arras against the Brits and French tanks in 1940. Both the US and Germans put a version of their former AAA guns(antiaircraft artillery) in tanks.

I suspect your wife's dad was a radio operator in a 90mm antiaircraft artillery outfit and had access to expended shell casings.

[This message has been edited by starlightcoupe (edited 10-09-2010).]

Stuff like this gives me goose bumps.

My Grandfather tells a story that he removed this from one of the last trains to leave Auschwitz. He was a liberator!



I have converted it to a lamp. I have not altered any part on it. No drilling of holes. I wanted to keep it's originality. It makes me happy to own this.

[This message has been edited by Tony Kania (edited 10-09-2010).]

The 90 mm were also used on some of the tank destroyers. The US sent a group over with the 90mm gun early in the war, to see if they would stand up, but were not acceptable, so they stuc with the 76 mm till the M-36 Hellcat was perfected, but it didn't enter service till 1944 I believe, but the 90mm round was in production far earlier than that. Tanks and tank destroyers had a radio operator, who doubled as a co-driver.

The F.A, would be a propellant (powder) and projectile designation. I haven't looked in to it, but it could possibly stand for "Flashless" Amourpeircing" if the round came from a tank destroyer.

From the stories she remembers he was stationed as a radio man with an artillery unit on New Caledonia and Guadalcanal.

Something I found interesting about the 90 MM base was where it says lot 6268-17 FA it had the 7 cut over an 8 so it really said 18FA and then someone cut a 7 right over the 8.

What ever any of that means.

As I said it means more to her than any amount of money so cleaning it up was more to making it more pleasing to the eye in the house.

Out of respect for her Dad more than anything else.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-09-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Tony Kania: Stuff like this gives me goose bumps. My Grandfather tells a story that he removed this from one of the last trains to leave Auschwitz. He was a liberator! I have converted it to a lamp. I have not altered any part on it. No drilling of holes. I wanted to keep it's originality. It makes me happy to own this.

VERY cool. That is HISTORY you have there. (Although it looks huge next to that Fiero. )