Rare GPO 746L

[andy1702]

There is third way bezels could be made, though I don't know if they were, and that's casting the letters into the plastic, as they are on computer keys.

I had a look at some repro currently on sale and agree that the '7' is wrong and stands out a mile.

It would be interesting to know what the moulding marks on Hotline's bezel are.

That would certainly be the best way of doing it if they wanted to use coloured plastic. I'm not sure if that technique was around in the 60s though. It's got me wondering how they did typewriter keys at the time?

I think another reason they used the clear plastic was because they only had to produce one plastic part, rather than one in each colour if they had used coloured plastic. It looks like they produced the clear plastic ring then printed on either white or black letters / numbers in reverse. The black numbers then got painted over either ivory or yellow, while the white numbers were used for green, grey, blue, black and red.

I've been wondering if it would be possible to home-cast some new ones out of clear resin. Not sure how I'd do the white printing though.

[Hotline]

There is third way bezels could be made, though I don't know if they were, and that's casting the letters into the plastic, as they are on computer keys.

I had a look at some repro currently on sale and agree that the '7' is wrong and stands out a mile.

It would be interesting to know what the moulding marks on Hotline's bezel are.

Here is a close up of the dial surround on my 746L, the second photo shows one of my original 706 phones for comparison purposes.

I also attach some close ups and photos of the back of the 746L dial surround.

[andy1702]

I'd say that's definitely a later plastic surround that has been over printed relatively recently. It might even have been made recently. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the moulding marks to be able to tell you any more.

[Hotline]

I'd say that's definitely a later plastic surround that has been over printed relatively recently. It might even have been made recently. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the moulding marks to be able to tell you any more.

Thanks Andy, well I will need to be on the lookout for a genuine red 706 style dial surround!