Old school Mole

dustino

dustino

Well-known member
Hi, I bought this old-school 1K Baby Solarspot for $100 bucks (came with a 500W lamp.) The model is Type 751 and mole still sells these as part of their classic series. Anybody know when this model was manufactured - couldn't find out online? Serial # is 1934 (surely that's not when it was made!)

This thing is beat to hell (see pics), but still seems to run like a champ. Not sure if I'm going to keep it or not, might try to doctor it up with some new enamel paint and put it on ebay. Or keep it, if I do a good job!


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That's a wierd barn door.

I'd keep it. What ever you do, don't change the paint color.
 
Yeah...I'm with J. If you can work out a new barndoor situation (4 leaf is actually useful, 2 doors not so much in my opinion) and pick up a 1K bulb (if you want that much power, you might not obviously) you'll be good to go. Nice grab.
Peace,

-Harry
 
the barn door looks weird because it's supposed they are supposed to be vertical rather than horizontal. And, I've already changed the color! Red enamel paint is currently drying on my back porch. Barn doors are flat black. Took it apart, scrubbed it down, sanded off the rust and sprayed on some new paint. This baby's gonna look good as new (ok, no it won't, but it won't look like I just drug it out of a barn as it does in the pics above). I'll post some pics of the "restoration."

I'd like to get a set of 4 barn doors, but they cost $100 plus shipping from Mole and I can't find any used. At least I have something to clip some diffusion to with the 2 doors.
 
"Restoration" Complete

"Restoration" Complete

Ok, here are the "restoration" pics. The paintjob isn't anything to brag about (lots of overspray "puddles"), but it looks a hell of a lot better than it did.

Before:
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After:
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After:
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after:
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That color is sooo bright, but it looks a lot cleaner than it did before. Nice work and I hope it works well for you.
 
Noah said:
That color is sooo bright, but it looks a lot cleaner than it did before. Nice work and I hope it works well for you.
Click to expand...

LOL - it is "safety red". I live in Chicago and they don't sell spray paint in the city limits. I had to drive to the suburbs and this was the only shade of any red I could find in a decent brand paint after traveling to two Home Depots. I'll never confuse this light with anyone else's, that's for sure.:)
 
Dustino, that is a great story! Wow I had no idea Chicago had that rule. Prolly all the taggers right? Well, I think the 'ol Mole looks very honorable, and has a story to tell :)
 
I'd also be in favor of a new barndoor solution. You'll be much hapier, once you have a 4-leaf barndoor dialed in.

Cool paintjob though, do you think it will resist the heat?

Cheers!
 
Wow, I've never seen a red-hot mole before! Let us know how it works out after hard use on the set, it's certainly eye-catching. Would make a nice pair with that gorgeous new metallic blue Schoeps microphone. What kind of heat-resistant enamel did you use? I've got some old Moles that could use an update.
 
LOL - I was thinking the same thing about the Schoeps! If they can make a bright blue shotgun then I can have a fire-engine red mole, by god!

And, yes, Rush no spraypaint in the city because of taggers. It's a real pain in the ass...

I just bought a high-grade enamel spray paint and I'd be surprised if it can't stand up to the heat (I did a test but only for about 15 minutes). It's enamel paint so it has some elasticity to it. The worst that could happen is a little cracking here and there. Thanks for the compliments on the paint job! I was starting to think it looked a little ridiculous (maybe it does - who cares for $100!)
 
Hey, I just got an old Mini Mole, with a similarly terrible paint job. I guess when they last forever they start looking a bit worn. I want to paint it black, would you recommend radiator or engine block spay paint?

Come to think of it, how hot can the metal surfaces of a 200W mini mole get?
 
Fire hydrant red indeed! I'm got a mental picture of some poor pooch getting the surprise of his (short) life! ZZZZAP!

Nice job!

Joe
 
It's been suggested to me (however so far I've been hesitant to paint my old Moles so I've not ventured there yet) that for lighting fixtures, a high temperature paint should be used, for example, maybe something like this: http://www.caswellplating.com/vht/vht_high.htm but I don't know if that's overkill or not.

For anyone who want to preserve the original Maroon color, you can actually purchase the Maroon paint from Mole-Richardson or through a lighting/grip/expendables vendor.
 
I just used a rust-oleum high performance enamel
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I'll let you know if it doesn't work well with the heat. I just read the can which says not to use on surfaces that exceed 200 degrees, and I'm sure the light will exceed that temp. I'll let you know if the paint starts to crack badly (I'm still confident it won't be a problem - famous last words).

But like cinemakinoeye said, you can buy paint directly manufactured by Mole. Their website lists it at $10 a can, but I have no idea what size that is.

I'm sure those high temp paints would work, but they're all flat finishes - might not look spectacular.
 
I'd buy the mole paint. Nothing says cheesy more than a mole light that is not a mole color.
 
I bought my mini mole well used from a lighting house. They had already painted the back safety orange, which matches very nicely with the cat-puke purple mole chose to paint it.

Why would Mole choose to use such an unpleasant color? It must be to show that they make such quality lights that people will buy them anyway.
 
Yeah, they look like crap when they fade out to a purpley-pink wash out. I'll take my "cheesy" red light over that anyday.
 
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