The work shown so far is on the bottom only; The weighted blocks are inside and the rubber bands start the process of bracking up the case panels for drying overnight.
Additional weights are applied to force the side panels down onto the flat table; The work area is covered with wax paper so the case doesn't stick to anything (there is no glue on the lid yet.
After the joints dry overnight it's time to start gluing the batting onto the joints.
The tape holding-off the batting is removed and the joints and batting are coated with glue and allowed to tack-up before teasing the batting over the joints while the glue sets.
Here I'm going to use this small screw driver to tease the batting over the joints as the tacky glue is drying, until the glue holds the batting in place.
Slowly working and teasing the batting over the joint as the glue sets up and the batting becomes evermore stiff.
Here the batting is stiffening up well and the batting glue marrying with a coat of glue that was placed over the joint at the same timd as the batting's glue. Notice the glue on the thin end of the wedge; I slip the wedge under the raw batting fabric so I can soak the batting with glue and not get any glue where it's not wanted.
After glueing the lid joints that needed it, I'm making a wax paper "gasket" so I can close the lid so the lid will form to the body of the case while the wax paper keeps the glue on the top from sticking to the case body.
When the glue dries overnight I paint / impregnate worn-out (bare fabric) sections of the batting with satin black vinyl upholstery paint which matches the surrounding original vinyl-like paint the batting fabric was coated / impregnated with. This type of repair fits the character of a well worn old case very well, so much so that I've never had anyone notice such repairs unless they knew they were done. A person with a LOT of time to spare can even hand sew heavy, waxed cotton thread back into the batting should they desire, ...although I've yet to see anyone even notice that the thread is missing from the batting and allowed the batting to separate from the case joints! And a person that can afford it can have a luggage repair shop do the repair I've done and also hand sew new thread into where it is missing.
