I was pleased to see the excellent post and analysis that Pinky did here on his early light green 111. https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/22793/ A masterful job completely in the spirit of what is best about CCS. It got me thinking and I realized I'd been staring for some months at a similar version (mine is blue) in my own possession high atop the "to fettle" pile. (Sorry, it's a bit nasty still. I've restored the wrench, the heat shield and done an operational fettle.) It has most of the features that Pinky has identified, but is also different. Here it is for whatever it is worth. I don't feel qualified to analyze it and I'll leave that conjecturing to others. I hope it helps someone organize the timeline in some productive way. It burns good, too. It gets the case bottom very hot. I'm not surprised all the paint is gone. Also, the little spout on the windshield does a really poor job of conducting the spirit into the pan on my stove. The spout appears to be spot welded to the windshield on the "wings". Thanks for looking. Cheers, Gary
Nice Gary!, She looks like she puts out some heat! In pretty good shape for her age too. I prefer this color of blue. The spout reminds me of a Radius spout and I wonder if it was a custom job.
Hi Gary, Is the bottom of the meths guide chute sticking as far over as Pinky's? His looks as if it is only held at the top so the bottom could easily get pushed towards the side of the windshield over time. Perhaps a small wedge behind it might help with the aim of the priming fuel into the cup. It doesn't seem to be the done thing around CCS but when I was at school (yes, I can just about remember that far back) we used to use small bits of broken up hexamine blocks instead of meths. These wouldn't fall out of the priming cup so the base of your 111 wouldn't be in quite so much danger when it's restored. It sure looks like it does the job once it's lit. Regards John
Hey Gary, the stove does look pretty good so I would think that even with the paint chipping away, as long as there are no rust spots to worry about, I'd leave the stove as it is giving it more character. I'd restore a stove case only on the worse case scenario. Cheers Ron PS, love the white control knob by the way.
Hi Gary. Great presentation, as always . Brightens my day when I see Bernie Jnr standing next to a stove in the 'Recent Gallery Posts' side panel as it means I am in for a good read. Best wishes, Terry
Oh cool!!! So you and Mikko both have blue ones, but both have different colored knobs. Mikko's says his is originally green bakelite that's been painted blue. Man, Optimus just couldn't make up their minds in the 50's, huh?! Mikko's can be viewed here, and here. So I guess Optimus was offering both blue and green ones simultaneously once they moved on from the earliest dark green ones. I had figured the blue was introduced later. Not sure why I thought that, but I just had that impression. Good to know it was wrong! I'll have to examine my windscreen more closely when I get home for the little spot welds you mentioned. And I agree, it doesn't do a particularly good job of directing the priming spirits down, but I'm a sucker for a good gimmick and love it nonetheless. I think it's an interesting little production window between the earliest 111's and the later ones folks are more familiar with. I guess Optimus was still working the kinks out. Great stove Gary, and thanks to you and Mikko for shedding a bit more light on them!
