The restoration is finally complete – all that is left now is for the grand-daughters to test ride it.
I’ll start with a series of photos.
It took a bit of work to do all the fittings, but the instructions provided with them were easy to follow.
The exception being the mane. The instructions assumed it was just one (or maybe 2) pieces of hide, but what we had were 4 pieces. We had to decide what order to put them on so that the overall effect was right.
In it’s original form the rocking horse squeaked terribly. So when I put it together this time, I used dry lube on the hanger. There is a slight squeak, but nowhere near what it was.
Also, I had great difficulty getting hold of axle caps for the end of the hangers. It seems that Bunnings doesn’t carry them anymore and apart from quite expensive online purchases the only ones I could find were in Nowra (about a 45 minute drive).
As a final touch, I laser engraved a little plaque and fastened it to the base.
Roebucks stopped making these rocking horses in 1972, so this one is at least 52 years old (who knows how much older than that it may be). Hopefully the rocking horse gets handed down through the family. I can only hope that in another 50 years my efforts may be repeated by a future generation of the family. Then the rocking horse will pass it’s 100th birthday.
So I would like to thank my mother-in-law (Janet Rowan) for her efforts with the painting of the rocking Horse.
And also Libby from Rocking Horse Restorations for her advice and for supply of the kit of all the fittings.
A Final View
Having got the rocking horse completed, here is a before & after comparison.
