Very impressive lantern! Shame it's such a rare one. I wonder if a scrap Alpha 5 could be modified to take a reproduction Fleetwood internals

I'd say easily , they're basically the same canopy?

Same canopy, same bowl. Just different gubbins

Although I did notice the lack of the SLI/H mount hub at the front of the Fleetwood, (I made a point of checking Dave's from Andy's A5)!, AEI must have added that to the moulding later?

Wouldn't a SLI and Fluorescents use the same mounting hubs in the canopy ?

The SLI lantern was remote geared, taking a single T12 size tube. The Fleetwood is gear in head, taking four T8 tubes. It's in the same family, but a totally different beast inside

Having working gear for the first time since first acquiring it two years makes so much of a difference, seeing those 3 tubes strike smoothly and unaided really has given me the push I needed get the last tube working. Hopefully at some point this week I'll be getting the dead ballast rewound. I have a replacement QS transformer, so should hopefully have a fully working lantern soon!

Have you got any further on the Z8256?