awesome news, you'll love this kit it has mojo in spades, also good to see your a john bonham fan.

Congratulations! That will be a great kit. Glad to have someone your age this excited about vintage drums. Remember, no steel wool. Can't wait to see what you do with them.

Congratulations man! Can`t wait to see the pics and hear what you think about those old tubs. Tommy

Yes cool kit I love radio kings, great sound, so much history.

I wish we could find them ' lying around' like this in England.

What did you end up buying them for if you don't mind me asking?!

We settled on $500! I've got the heads off the drums atm, I'll take some pictures tonight when I get the heads back on and tuned. I'm gonna take it for a quick test drive then it's back apart to be cleaned! I've got a few questions as to the best way to going about cleaning the drums:

1. The lugs, hoops, and hardware have dulled from just being dirty and not cleaned, any recommendations on how to clean them safely?

2. A couple other pieces of hardware (tom arm mount on kick, cymbal arm mount on kick, spurs and spur mount, tom mount on tom) have a very thin layer of rust on them. Any way to clean those up at all? Same method as lugs?

3. A lot of the black paint on the kick drum hoops have chipped off. Any way to take the WMP lining off and repaint it? Is there a specific type of paint that would need to be used? Would that be smart or insane? Cool Dude

4. One of the hoops on the tom is bent cause it was dropped a number of years ago. Any safe way to fix the flat part and get it back in its original shape? Also, the inside of the re-ring has a small split in it from the drop. Is it necessary to fix that? Any recommendations how to fix it?

I'll attach some photos of the lugs/hardware/bent hoop/ and crack later today.

get you a can of barkeepers friend it is a powder and it is cheap. with a little dawn added to the mix. place it all in a nice plastic tube a scrubing brush plastic bristles, take all the metal parts and drop them in it. us the brush to give the parts a really good cleaning. it will remove the rust, gunk and crud and shine up the parts to boot. the cleaner It will not harm nickel plating either. I've used every method and cleaner I swear. this is the cheapest and best way to go. the metal rim is brass take a rubber mallet place it flat on a work bench lay a towel to protect the finish place the rim flat on that and hammer it back in to position. Yes fix the ply seperation of the shell it will keep seperating from playing. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bar-Keepers-Friend-15-oz-All-Purpose-Cleaner-11584/202290251

For the sake of clarity (and because I agree with him on every point), I'm gonna attempt to translate vintagemore2000's post:

Purchase a can of Barkeeper's Friend. It's an inexpensive metal cleaner that's widely available at places like Targe, Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Here's a link to purchase it online: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bar-Keepers-Friend-15-oz-All-Purpose-Cleaner-11584/202290251

While you're at it, grab a bottle of Dawn dishsoap and a scrubbing brush with plastic bristles.

Fill a large plastic tub with warm water, around a tablespoon of Dawn, and the correct ratio of Bartender's Friend that the packaging recommends. Use the brush to remove the rust, gunk and crud from your metal parts. Not only does this solution do a great job of cleaning, it also leaves parts shiny. Your nickel parts are also perfectly safe. I've used every method of cleaning vintage drum parts, and you have my word that this is by far the cheapest, easiest and most effective. I swear!

The rim that you have is made of brass, and as such, is quite malleable. You should be able to bend it back to its original form with minimal effort. Place the rim flat on a workbench with a towel underneath it. Using gentle but firm strokes, strike the rim with a rubber mallet until it straightens to your satisfaction.

The ply separation you asked about is actually concerning – it would be best if you had it fixed before continuing to play the drum as playing the drum will likely make the problem worse. You might want to have it looked at by a professional.

Good luck!

thanks for clarifition I am getting to where I hate posting long post and don't really clearly state. my intent.