I get asked about this every so often, so when Ryan Stevens sent in this mangled broadcast sheet for the ‘found’ section I decided to use it for the basis of this article. This is what we are starting with, what a mess;

Save all the pieces you can for starters, even the tiniest scraps. Roughly assemble them where they go.

Notice that some areas have folded over, you will need to gently fold them back in place. Even my bony fingers were too fat for this, so I used a business card. Slip it under the edges & gently fold them over.

Look for small sections like this & fold them over as well. It they break off, make a mental note of where they go, or take photos as you go.

Once you have that taken care of, reassemble the bits & pieces about where they go and press them flat with something heavy for a while. My 1970-71 parts book works great for this.

Even after pressing, this one was still pretty lumpy, so I VERY carefully ironed it with a steam iron. Go easy on the heat & pressure here or you can wipe the poor battered thing out for good! Here is how it looked after ironing;

Now comes the fun part, final assembly. For this stage you need a backer sheet the same size or slightly larger than the broadcast sheet. You want something stiffer than a normal sheet of paper. Transparency sheets work fine, so does photo paper as shown here.

You will also need some double sided sticky tape, I use Scotch brand removable double coated tape. It has a ‘soft stick’ so if you make a mistake you can gently peel the original up & adjust it. Flip the largest section of the broadcast sheet over & use small sections of this tape in the areas that are split & torn. Try to get it right the first time, every time. Some sheets are so brittle that you do risk damage if you have to make a correction, so be patient & take your time. Once you have the tape in place, carefully align the corner of the sheet with the corner of the backing paper. This part is critical - align the edges well or you may be off the edge as you add the smaller pieces and work out.

Once you have that done, start filling it in with the small pieces.

You may have some tiny bits like these two rascals, they broke off when I tried to fold them over in one of the earlier steps.

They both go here;

These are too small for tape to be practical, so for this use Elmer’s white glue. Use the tip of a pin or paperclip, dip it in a bead of glue then carefully spread it on the backer sheet where you need it. Then carefully bed the tiny bits in the glue where they go, use tweezers if needed.

Once the glue dries, that is it, you are done! You can make photo copies or scan it into your computer as needed for reference at this point. Then slip the broadcast sheet & backing paper into a sleeve protector before you file it away for safe keeping.

Thanks for sending it in Ryan! It will be the Item of the Month for October 2010.

Barry Washington