Thorn Beta 7

This is a well used but brilliant overall Thorn Beta 7 lantern with plastic Cab-u-lite 'anti vandal' bowl (which in reality is probably easier to smash than the glass bowl) Very much like the bowl on my Eleco HW918, the plastic is tough but extremely brittle, mishandling it even just once will break it. In the case of this plastic though, it doesn't take being in the presence of mercury very well at all, as its cracked and split all over, the best area being the lowest portion of the bowl where less UV is able to reach in (in this case loads of dead bugs helped the situation) Even so, its such an instantly recognisable lantern, especially the characteristic lines formed into the bow, making it a variant I had wanted for a long time. Incredibly, it comes undrilled, meaning restoration has been simplified drastically.

Restoration will involve unseizing the grub screws (if possible) a respray inside and out, a rewire and careful repairs made to the currently fragile bowl. I'd like to hope that it may be possible to replicate these bowls, perhaps even make it slightly thicker to give it some more strength.