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The Repair Shop expert Dominic Chinea was faced with a challenge during a classic episode of the BBC restoration series and warned his guests that there was a “big if” regarding whether he would be able to fix it.
As Jill Denny and her daughter Miranda walked in, she placed the item down on the table and explained to Chinea: “This is an aerograph compressor.
“My dad used [it] during his lifetime. This is 1940s, 1950s-style compressor. He would be pumping this up with his foot and then with a pen, a little airbrush.”
Chinea confirmed: “So it’s like a foot pump? It pumps up this cylinder, which then is the sort of like the reservoir for the air… to power the air brush. So Why on earth did your dad have something like this, then?”
Denny added: “He was a freelance commercial artist. So he started working in a company making cartoons way, way back in the 1940s. He then moved on to doing artwork in the form of painting in the 1970s.
“[He] sold them on the railing at Green Park in London. And one of the memories I have as a child, he was doing some work for the local council and we had these huge, great big posters of the local councillors in our living room.
The guests were eager to see the machine working again
BBC
“Because the councillors were vain, they didn’t want their wars and their moles and it was the time before Photoshop. So he used this to actually airbrush their blemishes out. Making these local councillors look decent.”
Turning to Miranda, Chinea asked what he was like as a grandad, to which she revealed: “He used to sit with us, and he used to tell us how to draw. And he bought books on how to draw as well.
“You know, it was like the little circles, you start with circles and lines.”
Denny added that she felt “sad” that she didn’t understand or appreciate the range of her father’s talents whilst he was still alive.
Dominic worked his magic and brought the machine back to life
BBC
Chinea noted: “It was obviously a cherished tool that he used all the time. When this was new, it would have been shiny and pristine. So if, a big if, but if I can get it working again, what’s the plan?”
Miranda said: “It will be fantastic to have it working and then actually you know… I want to have a go!”
Taking the machine to his workbench, Chinea took a closer look and came across a problem: “It looks quite daunting with hoses and levers and gauges everywhere, but this is basically a foot pump.
“Air is drawn in, pushed into a chamber here and there’s a plunger in there – once the air has been compressed to a high pressure, you can attach your air brush onto the end there and you’ve got compressed air and away you go.
The guests used the machine and made a portrait of Chinea
BBC
“Unfortunately, it has clearly seen better days. Rust has started to set in, so the best thing for me to do with the tank is to send it away to get professionally pressure-tested because I need to make sure there is no damage that is going to make that a dangerous thing.”
After the tank came back all clear and Chinea worked his magic, it was time for Denny and her daughter to return to the barn and take a look at the machine in a new and working state.
As Chinea uncovered the machine, Denny exclaimed: “Good God! That is bright and shiny! Is this the original colour? Oh I could just see him using it! It takes me back right to my childhood, that noise!
“Him standing there using the airbrush! Someone’s got to do this, someone has got to pump this up and down, so it makes a noise! Can we hear it please?”
Chinea placed the machine down on the floor and let Denny pump away, before Miranda began using the airbrush on a piece of paper to draw a smiley face.”
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