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1939 Ivory 302— Rediscovered

Started by unbeldi, March 19, 2015, 10:22:03 PM

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Doug Rose

Kidphone

unbeldi

Thanks, colored 302s from 1939 don't come along very often.
Even if it is 'just' ivory.

1939 was perhaps the first year that WECo made colored 302s. I have not seen or heard of any made in 1938 or 1937.

Pourme

Very nice....I love to see these elegant 302's brought back to life, nice job!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

unbeldi

Now (Aug 2016), 16 months later after initial restoration, the surface color of the 1939 paint, previously freshly solvent-cleaned, has yellowed just a bit, and seems a little darker too. I think that was probably to be expected.  I believe the paints of 1939, or most before the mid 1940s for that matter, were all based on linseed oil.

Ktownphoneco

Nice job Karl.   As "Pourme" has pointed out, it's nice to see the colored 302's brought back to original condition, or as close to it as possible.    I've restored 3 W.E. metal sets in the past, and painted them in Western's color code "53", Cherry Red, and they turned out quite nice, with a matching dial case, nickel plated finger wheel, number card retainer and clear switch hook plungers.
Unfortunately, the paint shop that mixed my paints and put them in spray cans for me, closed, and I can't find anyone else willing to experiment with the color pigments and match them to Western color samples.   

Jeff Lamb

unbeldi

#20
Quote from: Ktownphoneco on August 20, 2016, 12:30:17 PM
Nice job Karl.   As "Pourme" has pointed out, it's nice to see the colored 302's brought back to original condition, or as close to it as possible. 
Thanks.  I will still be hunting for 1939-vintage cords. I have only rotted pieces of the original handset cord, but with the dated strain reliefs.

Quote
I've restored 3 W.E. metal sets in the past, and painted them in Western's color code "53", Cherry Red, and they turned out quite nice, with a matching dial case, nickel plated finger wheel, number card retainer and clear switch hook plungers.
Unfortunately, the paint shop that mixed my paints and put them in spray cans for me, closed, and I can't find anyone else willing to experiment with the color pigments and match them to Western color samples.   

Jeff Lamb

The finger wheel and number card frame were stainless steel, not plated, and not brass. So, they are hard to find, because no other dials used them later, I believe.
The early color 302s, before WWII, never used clear plungers.  The painted metal sets used black ones according to all that I have seen, and the plastic sets had same-colored plastic plungers. The clear plungers appear as an invention of 1949, when colored set production resumed.