white phone, beige dial face

[suhoni56]

What do you think the story is for this phone?

[JimH]

I can't be sure, but the dial face may just be yellowed.  I know sometimes the dial faces are made of a different kind of plastic that may yellow.  Have you tried looking at the back or inside edges that might not have been exposed to light?  If it's white on the back, you may try the peroxide treatment on it.

[WesternElectricBen]

The original faceplate was probably wrecked or missing and the replacement was that yellowed plate.

Ben

[WEBellSystemChristian]

The plastics were probably painted white, but this dial bezel couldn't be because the numbers and letters would be covered up. Bare plastic usually fades faster than paint does, and the bezel faded more noticeably than the other plastics.

[Dan/Panther]

The plastics were probably painted white, but this dial bezel couldn't be because the numbers and letters would be covered up. Bare plastic usually fades faster than paint does, and the bezel faded more noticeably than the other plastics.

I agree, I think the shell and handset were Polane painted, the dial face was not.

D/P

[JorgeAmely]

I agree with Christian. Years ago I bought a white AE80 with the same problems. Sanding the numbers wheel took care of the problem, but since the wheel was never painted, it suffered from deep color loss.

See my before (eBay picture) and after.

[suhoni56]

Forgive my ignorance, but you sanded the number wheel? Please explain how to do that without the numbers coming off.

[JimH]

Forgive my ignorance, but you sanded the number wheel? Please explain how to do that without the numbers coming off.

The  numbers and letters are injection molded into the surrounding plastic...that is, the black goes all the way through to the back.  It can't wear off.  They did this to correct the previous problem of the numbers and letters wearing off the old porcelain number plates.  I've always found this odd...since with the numbers now outside the finger wheel, your fingers never wear across them any longer (except for the indexing dots).

[suhoni56]

Thanks Jim, very interesting.... and convenient for phone restoration.

So here is one I found on ebay with reverse discoloration.  I would love to know why the discoloration on these 2 phones is opposite.

The painting mentioned earlier in this thread.... was that paint part of restoration? What is polane?

Thanks!!

[TelePlay]

What is polane?

It's a special Polyurethane Enamel that comes in various forms for different applications. It uses a catalyst, just like fiberglass resins and epoxy glues, to harden when applied. It's a very tough paint that is difficult to remove from plastic, easier to take off of metal, such as aircraft skin. You can get it in, I think, 5 gallon minimum sizes at Sherwin Williams and other paint sources.

See the attached PDF for specs of two versions of Polane, one semi gloss and the other high gloss for comparison.

As for the color of the plastics, keep in mind that if not painted, the type of plastic used for the shell and the number plate could be different and as such, they would change color differently over time.