Another Polane victim

[JorgeAmely]

This old phone has been to the shop. You can see that it retained the curly gray cord, but the dial was swapped out sometimes during the sixties. Although it looks like Light Beige (color code -60), under close inspection, it is a nice Rose Beige set from 7-7-1955. The shop painted the housing in Rose Beige and installed a 9C dial. Years later the Polane paint faded and it looks Light Beige now.

What's a phone collector to do? Well, fix what the shop did wrong, of course.

Finlover provided a new numbers wheel and Dennis M. the dial.

Unfortunately, the Polane paint sticks to Tenite like epoxy to metal.

PS: The two last pictures show the housing partially sanded, down to 220 grit.

[Dan/Panther]

Jorge;
I have a turquoise 11-58/500. There is just no way I have the patience to hand sand that entire shell. How long does it take you guys to sand through that armor plate ?
There has got to be a way to remove that Polane without sanding it.
Has anyone tried glass bead sandblasting, Glass bead can remove paint and not harm the surface, I just don't know about plastic. Only one way to find out, is take something out there and try it. Somewhere i have a set of Yellow handset capos that were painted Pink, I'll, try those first.
D/P

[Jester]

Jorge,
You are a patient man!!  I would have hit that paint with the choke cleaner.  No doubt it's gonna look good when you're through with it.  I've been hunting one of those number bezels, too.  They aren't easy scores.

[Jim Stettler]

I have an early blue, factory painted green. ISTR that it is a (closely)matching date set, right down to the green dial bezel. It has a grey handset cord.
My impression was that it was never used as a blue set.
It is packed right now.
Jim

[JorgeAmely]

D/P:

Armor plate is what it feels like going through that darn paint. The trick is to not try to do it all at once. What you see so far is three hours spread over three days. I did the cradle area this morning, so this evening I do some other spots. I don't have access to a glass bead sandblaster; lacquer paint thinner seems to remove it, but you still have to sand it because the thinner melts the top layer of the plastic. Acetone is even worse, but it removes the paint. 


Jester:

I wonder if choke cleaner is like paint thinner. It must be difficult to find that stuff; there aren't many carburetors left in the US, except for lawn mowers! Until finlover provided the numbers wheel, I was planning to slap it with a black 500 wheel. By the way, how is the 532 coming along? Dennis recently found a 332. We should have a conference call with all these hearing impaired phones at once. Just a dry run for what could happen years from now. 

[Jim Stettler]

Gumout spray carb cleaner is still being sold in the auto parts store. They also sell the gumout carb/fuel injector additive for gas tanks. I think it is the same formula, but that is just a guess.
Gumout is a great spot degreaser for the nooks and crannies on your engine.

My green set is an oddity, It seems like it originally left the factory green. It is in pretty good condition, so It will probably stay green. I might reconsider if I ever find a Blue bezel.
Regarding Bezels, If it is a 591 set and the  housing is WE (vs Bell system). The dial was sold seperate and might not match. I have seen several seys like this.
Jim



Jim

[Jester]

Quote:  By the way, how is the 532 coming along? Dennis recently found a 332. We should have a conference call with all these hearing impaired phones at once.

I've been distracted with honey-do's & work projects since that 532 arrived, so progress has been slow.  It's not in really bad shape, so I hope to have a full report on it before the month is over.

Good point on the 591, Jim.  I can't say I've ever heard of one in dark beige, though.  Who knows?   

[Jim Stettler]

I have a dark beige 591 w/ ivory dial.  I research it once and seem to remember  that all the colors were avaliable in 591 sets. The biggest key is if the housing is WE vs bell.
Jim

[JorgeAmely]

Jim:

Mmmmm. I have never seen a colored 591. The 591 set I have is black, from Russ Cowell, and it has a Kellogg dial (go figure) plus a frequency ringer.

The only reason I can think of why the set was painted is because of a faint black line in the front of the set, as if a cat hair had gotten inside the mold.

Regarding these paint finishes, this Polane bonds very well with Tenite, but a white AE80 and 500 (both ABS) I refinished months ago seemed to have some sort of acrylic based  (almost like latex) paint, because it was fairly easy to strip with common oven cleaner.

I wonder if someone here knows more about these paints. Any BSPs out there that describes how these sets were painted, what method, etc.?

Inquiring minds want to know ... 

[Jim Stettler]

The easiest way I have found to spot a painted set, is to study the printing, it isn't very sharp if the set has been painted.

I am thinking my referance on colored 591 colored sets was probably from a graybar catalog.

If you can get a phone # for natural state finishing, you could call the lady and ask her. about painting and BSp referances.
She used to paint phones for Bell system. Now she paints them for "fun".
Jim

[Dennis Markham]

Jorge, what you've done so far looks very good.  That is a huge job but I know you will plug along at it until it's finished.  Your end result will be yet another great looking telephone.

[JorgeAmely]

Jim:

You mean this place?

Natural State Finishing Inc
1925 Spring St
Hot Springs, AR,
71901-4812

501-624-0089

Their website; http://www.naturalstatefinishing.com/ seems down for now.

[Jim Stettler]

Yes,

That is the place.

My understanding is that she painted for WE for years.

Someone told me she worked a deal for an early retirement, which included the equitment and contracted back  her old position.

I don't know how true the story is, but for awhile Bell did a lot of retirement buy-outs and contracted the employees back.

Jim

[Dennis Markham]

Phyllis at Natural State Finishing is the woman that does the painting.  A friend of mine sent her a mushroom cap from an Aqua 500 P/U and the result was a perfect match.  He was extremely pleased.  I have heard other compliments about Phyllis' painting of telephones as well.  In case anyone was wondering............

[Jester]

I have a dark beige 591 w/ ivory dial.  I research it once and seem to remember  that all the colors were avaliable in 591 sets. The biggest key is if the housing is WE vs bell.
Jim

Jim,

Could you post some pictures of this one?  I think my 500 color collection just noticed some missing characters.