Vintage Double Hose

My J.C. Higgins Project
- It started with Sea Hunt Jerry texting me a photo of a blue painted Mistral that had started out as a private labled J.C. Higgins "Aqua-Air-Lung" double hose regulator. It was made by U.S. Divers for Sears. But apparently Sears didn't take them so U.S. Divers plastered a special Mistral label over the J.C. Higgins label. Anyway, I started looking around and found some nice photos of the J.C. Higgins regs over at the CG45... Including a near perfect image of the "Aqua-Air-Lung" label. And my thought was, "that's a nicer label than the special Mistral label."
- Well, several years ago I made up a rectangular Voit Navy label to stick on a DAAM... Because I didn't have a real NAVY yet. I had these printed on bumper sticker material so they'd be waterproof. Long story short, the J.C. Higgins labels swapped into my bumper sticker graphics easily. So, I had some made up and now I have a bunch of J.C. Higgins labels.
- My plan is to fix up a junked Mistral I have hanging in my Scuba Room, paint it blue, and stick a J.C. Higgins label on it.

Note: Thank You Adair Ribeiro for his generous permission to use the J.C. Higgins label art from the CG-45.com website!

Bravo! Those look great.

I'm considering making a faux "JC" out of an orphan 2 piece bottom box and an orphan Mistral top. These were USD OverPressure/Mistral conversions, so my box set should be right-ish.

Were the boxes raw brass when painted? Or satin nickel plate? I've had a few blue 50 Fathoms, and the paint chipped off too easily. I'd like the paint to stick, so what's the best way to go? Primer over raw brass? Media blasting and primer? Primer over satin plating? No primer? Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

I tried to order a page of Eben's Mistral labels, and Zazzle decided it was a copyright violation? Did you get yours, Eben?

Tracking is showing my order as "Out for Delivery" and the mail has not been delivered yet. If it shows up today, I'll post it here so you'll know. I clicked to "share" my project with you but maybe Zazzle thinks I own the rights or something. When it gets here, I'll send you a sheet of labels... I ordered 4 just in case 40 or so people want to make a JC Higgins/Mistral project! Ha!

Update... They're Here!

Well, the printing is lighter green than the photo looks. The actual color looks like the proper green. The background looks a bit like shaded white rather than metal foil. And the labels on the right side of the sheet probably have too dark of background. Below is a better photo.


Vance, I put a sheet in the mail for you tonight... It'll be in tomorrow's mail.

They look great.

My JC Higgins project is stalled, due to a lack of one part.

I'm currently building a very early Broxton, and my only 2 piece bottom box is claimed for this. I have another correct intake horn for the JCH, but no main box.

This is the only part I need. I have several top boxes, a couple of valves, lever sets, and everything else to make the JCH, but here I am.... Stuck.

It will get media blasted, so one with bad chrome, etc., would be fine, if I could find one.

Anybody? Please email me (not message, since I check here infrequently due to no traffic).

Thanks for any help,
Phil