Metaframe restoration project

So I got this tank from sounguru a while back and discovered it had a leak so it's been sitting for a while and I've finally been inspired to work on the restoration as it has some wear and tear which can be expected with 50 year old tanks. So the day before yesterday I started working on the tank whenever my headaches would let up for an hour or two and it's going great so far. Thought I would keep a thread from start to finish.

Just some pics of before I started. Obviously not water tight and there was severe corrosion in the hood. I couldn't even unscrew the bulbs before I started because they were so rusted in the sockets.
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Top of the hood, really grimy
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This is after I removed the actual fixture from the hood. I thought it was going to be the easy part and that I would simply have to unscrew it but with all the corrosion I had to break the knob off. Took about a half hour for me to do as I didn't want to damage the hood itself. I also scraped a large amount of hard water build up off of the hood with a razor.
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So here's a couple pics of the top and bottom of the hood after the fixture was removed and first layer of grime was removed. I still need to get some rust remover and stainless steel cleaner to get this tank back to it's former glory. Will go shopping for a new fixture this coming weekend.
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The green stuff that's on the hood seems to be melted plastic. Not sure if the hood was falling apart and it was put there to hold it together....??? So because I don't have a spot welder handy I'm just going to leave it.

Tonight hopefully I'll have a break in my headache and I'm going to reseal it. Kind of daunting for me. I usually just get rid of leaky tanks so hopefully I get it right on my first try.

Cool project, looking forward to see the end results.

You should modernize the hood with LED lighting.

Haha, I asked my wallet and he said N - O!

I just want to put in a cheapy florescent fixture for some floating plants. This tank is going to be used for fry and brigsii snails. It was going to be a display tank for multis but things change. I've got my 30gal metaframe I proudly display in the dining room with a couple of very curious angels.

Just a little update.

So I got the tank resealed and NEVER AGAIN will I attempt to reseal an aquarium. I knew I would freaking screw things up.

So I got the old silicon removed no problem
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So then I go to reseal the tank and the dang tape was right next to me, and I forgot to use it! So then I get all silicon happy and I get it freaking everywhere. So I'm trying to smooth the edges with a piece of cardboard I cut to fit in the corner which was an epic fail. And after a while I think I got high... So I spent thee next couple days trying to clean the mess I made, scraping the silicon on the sides of the tank and what not... I just got done with a 24hr water test and it seems to be holing thank goodness. In the future I will be taking the tank back down to have someone restore my restoration... but for now I need the tank up and running.
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Not a fun project!

Which reminds me, I have to silicone the shower and the kitchen backsplash soon.

Pics soon? Set up with fish.

Well I was draining the tank and there was some water under the tank. I'm not sure if the tank leaked or if maybe spilled water got under..? So I decided to set back up a 20gal high that I was planning to sell as my temp fry tank and just pay someone to re-silicon again... I'm so bummed, but I just don't want to take the chance. I will continue to work on the hood though and I'll post pics of that when finished.