British GPO 232 in Ivory

[LarryInMichigan]

I said "depainting".  All of the outer plastic surfaces were painted, so I had to remove the paint.  There is still a bit of paint on the top of the base where the shell covers it, but it does not show outside, and it is a pain to remove.  The line cord I used was sitting in a pile of spare cords, so I took it.

Larry

[unbeldi]

I said "depainting".  All of the outer plastic surfaces were painted, so I had to remove the paint.  There is still a bit of paint on the top of the base where the shell covers it, but it does not show outside, and it is a pain to remove.  The line cord I used was sitting in a pile of spare cords, so I took it.

Larry

Oh, I am sorry. I misread.

My guess is that the paint probably aged less gracefully than the ivory plastic would have on its own. But this early, it was perhaps still a challenge to get the surface perfect out of the factory, because the urea-formaldehyde resin sets very fast during molding (seconds), and is probably not as durable as Bakelite (phenol-formaldehyde), which takes minutes to set. The paint may have protected the surface over time. Urea-formaldehyde resins were easier to colorize than the phenolics though.

[LarryInMichigan]

IMO, the paint was just ugly.  It was flat and dull.  The plastic has some depth and shine.  Also, it seems rather anti-climactic to spend $$$ on an ivory plastic phone which has been covered with paint.  One might as well buy a black bakelite phone and paint it ivory.  At any rate, I am now most likely the first one on my block with a working ivory GPO 232

Larry

[unbeldi]

Looking at your old pictures again, it's hard to tell that it was painted. In fact, I can't tell.
Do you know whether some of the others colors were painted too?  I've assumed always they were the natural plastic color, like green and red, that I have seen.

[LarryInMichigan]

I didn't realize that it was painted until it arrived.  From what I understand, many of these were painted after the plastic discolored.  I doubt that they left the factory painted.  The paint on this one was not durable enough to be factory paint.  My guess is that whoever owned this phone didn't like the way the plastic looked, so they painted it.  Either that, or a reseller painted it to sell.  Either way, it's not painted now, and I have no intention of ever painting it.  The only phones that I paint are metal ones which are supposed to be painted.

Larry

[unbeldi]

IMO, the paint was just ugly.  It was flat and dull.  The plastic has some depth and shine.  Also, it seems rather anti-climactic to spend $$$ on an ivory plastic phone which has been covered with paint.  One might as well buy a black bakelite phone and paint it ivory.  At any rate, I am now most likely the first one on my block with a working ivory GPO 232

Larry

Until we had the modern paints that we do, painting plastic was actually not easy, at least for items that are handled and used a lot. I am sure this was a reason why Western Electric still used metal housings in the early 50s for those metallic-type colors.

[unbeldi]

It has a very nice sheen, beats paint any time.

[twocvbloke]

I am now most likely the first one on my block with a working ivory GPO 232

Well, you're several steps ahead of me, I haven't even got a 232!!

[Owain]

Do you know whether some of the others colors were painted too

GPO wood and plastics were AFAIK never painted.

Brass (eg on candlesticks) would usually have been black lacquered.