Help me clean a 67 year old BUTTERFLY BOMB! (disabled not armed) :p

[AdriaN (MLT)]

This bomb was given to me by my gran. It had been in their 300 year old house for years! the house itself was there during the war (obiviously), soldiers use to live in it. But im not too sure how the bomb got there. It might have fallen on the house or been picked up from nearby. My gran says it was found on their small chapel roof.

Anyway... iv had it on my shelf for a while and it got dirty. It is also very rusty (always was) it has these small bubbles of rust which can be knocked off and general rust. it also has rust under the paint. It is in quite good condition though. barely any bent parts. Today i decided to clean it with a damp cloth and too my amaizment, i found that it was not painted dark athracite grey (which i aways thought it was painted) but dark green! im serious... it was dark grey it was so dirty. thats one discovery down

I need proper advice on how to clean it properly?? i do not want to damage it even more. or i do no want it to rust further. What can i use? m

Here it is -

Wow with the flash it looks even greener!

Edited August 16, 2009 by AdriaN (MLT)

[The Velociweiler]

'Restore' is not necessarily the same as 'clean'.

My first inclination would be to give it a liberal dousing in WD 40. This is a preservative which has a primary effect of displacing water. (I appreciate with the photos you have here, there is little sign of water...!!)

First, no disrespect, but even after all these years, and even considering its past ownership, are you 100% certain it has no live explosive content? Again, no disrespect, but it's not going to be sitting in my house, after all...

I'm guessing that you don't want to lose the original paint, so that's why I qualify my question over 'restore' since that will frequently entail either losing the original finish, or painting over. Most oils are faintly (at least) acidic, and will affect either the paint, or possibly the metal in some way. My advice would be to avoid the temptation of restoration to the point where parts can still move, or are facilitated to movement after maybe decades of paralysis. This would be simply to discourage others from functioning the working parts to a point where breakage becomes inevitable. These devices were not built to last, so it is not reasonable to expect it to resist repeated attention. Give it a spray of WD 40 and wipe down immediately. This will rid it of surface loose corrosion. If you wish to facilitate movement in the relevant parts, then give it a generous spray here and leave alone, ideally in a sealed plastic bag. The liquid should penetrate into the working parts and help loosen the dried corrosion in the nooks and crannies. In no phase of this, try to force the parts, you'll break it, or weaken it to obviate later breakage. Continue to wipe the liquid from exposed or remaining paint. If you can reduce rust patches without damaging the remaining paintwork or other original finish, a bit of worn scotchbrite with either WD 40 or light oil (Three-in-one... cycle chain oil.. even Mazola - really, it will work...)and once again, flush away with WD 40 until you have removed what you are content with, or are left with something you don't want to risk further damage to. Finally, dry all traces of oil from the item, and leave it to sweat out all remaining oil outside in the rays of the sun on a hot day. Final preservation should be a thin layer of something more neutral like vaseline or baby oil (...no sniggering at the back, please....), renewed every six months or so.

Finally, at least to cover my own person, I add these comments only with regard to properly deactivated ordnance and completely inert hardware. For the third time, no disrespect to the originator of this thread, but you really need to be fully certain the bit of kit you wish to preserve presents no hazard with respect to long term retention and\or display.

As always, if in doubt - don't.

Edited August 16, 2009 by The Velociweiler

[AnonymousDFB1]

Oh Adrian you had me worried when i read the title of your post as I have always been told there was no way to make butterfly bombs safe! But I'm glad to see you only have the vanes.

Torestore I would strip all the paint and wire brush all the rust off that you can and then paint it with a commercial 'rust eater' then you can fill any pits and respray.

You may want to add the explosive part. I've seen this done buy some WW2 re-enactment guys using a length of screwed rod and some grey plastic drainage pipe.

HTH

edit Here's a pic of a real and complete one

Edited August 16, 2009 by Mish

[Derbyeomanry]

Personally, i'd leave it as is. Maybe scotchbrite (scouring pad) any loose rust off and leave it as it was made.

[AdriaN (MLT)]

Oh Adrian you had me worried when i read the title of your post as I have always been told there was no way to make butterfly bombs safe! But I'm glad to see you only have the vanes.

Torestore I would strip all the paint and wire brush all the rust off that you can and then paint it with a commercial 'rust eater' then you can fill any pits and respray.

You may want to add the explosive part. I've seen this done buy some WW2 re-enactment guys using a length of screwed rod and some grey plastic drainage pipe.

HTH

No no its just the outer shell

Ooh im not really after removing paint... i do not want to loose the original paint!

Now that picture you sent made bells ring. When i examined it, on the outside part of one of the 'wings' i found some very very faded sort of yellow, with brush marks on it. Look at the 4th picture and you can see the marks. Your picture has yellow sprayed rectangles on it. so the brush marks i found make sense. probably the bomb once had yellow on it too! but it was probably painted on, not sprayed, without a stencil too. i wonder..probably they had yellow paint thrown on them to signify they were armed!? but i cant find any red anywhere. Ooh well..another discovery!

Edited August 16, 2009 by AdriaN (MLT)