1956 soft plastic....How to clean/restore any ideas?

[jsowers]

Judging from the brown inside the handset caps, I would say this is smoke fading. Light almost never got in there, but smoke sure did. It's definitely ivory all over and I would try bleach/water in the sun as mentioned on the dial face and cords. But don't hold out a lot of hope for the cords. They may lighten some, but in my experience, not all the way back to ivory.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[Dennis Markham]

Jonathan, have you ever seen a bottom marked like this one?  Looks like also maybe a repair date in '57.

[Craig T]

Your line cord can be cleaned I think, it still will not be easy. The handset cord would be a long shot and a major pain, if you can swing it, I would try to get another cord for the handset, if you want the bright white look, otherwise your cord is great. The time you save will be worth more than the money IMO.

Try some Oxi-clean (if you have it around) and hot water. I have had that work on slightly yellowed plastics before.

This was one of the excellent turn outs Dan referred to...
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=745.msg10107;topicseen#msg10107


I have spent hours trying to clean some of my cords to no avail. It is time to get into the hazardous chemicals area of the garage    


I have also heard of great results with the bleach and white phones. Not to mention that method is the least labor intensive of them all, which is nice too.


Keep us posted on it John, you have a great phone.

[JorgeAmely]

John S:

Pictures 2, 3, 4, and 5 of your last picture set show a dark stripe on the side of the handset that faces the cradle, next to the "Western Electric G3" logo. If it is due to wear or friction, that could be the real color of the set thus indicating that the handset was painted once.

Can you confirm?

There is a possibility that the set was originally ivory from the factory, but due to deep discoloration while in service, it got a paint job and that is why the stripe shows now. I have seen Polane painted sets with wear patterns on the handset.

The picture of the base showing the color code by name and number seems odd. However, the second line seems to read "5R 957", which could be the date when the set was refurbished (Sept 1957). My theory is further confirmed by the darker numbers wheel and cord. Since they could not paint those components, they just got a double dose of exposure to contaminants or excessive sun light.

Of course, theories are just theories.

My 2 cents.

[jsowers]

Jonathan, have you ever seen a bottom marked like this one?  Looks like also maybe a repair date in '57.

No, I haven't, and the original date under the >-LOUD-> thumbwheel seems to be blacked out. I think Jorge is right on the money here. This phone is painted. I don't know why I didn't recognize the signs. They are all there on the handset. Good work, Jorge. The color inside the handset caps isn't as much smoke fade as it is the original color of the plastic that isn't painted.

Now as to how to get the paint off, I'll leave that to someone else with more experience. It may be easier to bleach the dial face to match rather than try to take the paint off. Judging from what's peeking through, it's rather dark. Hard to believe it got that dark in a year.

[JorgeAmely]

Now as to how to get the paint off, I'll leave that to someone else with more experience.

John S:
I had the experience of removing the paint of two rather late models of WE500 and AE80, both in white. The AE80 had an acrylic type of paint that came off with EasyOff. I sanded the WE500 since I didn't know about EasyOff as a paint remover when I started collecting phones three years ago.

Once the paints were off, both phones needed some sanding because the phones were deeply faded with sunlight to start with. I was new to the hobby, so I didn't mind spending some time doing this, even though the phones cost me 99 cents (AE80) and $5 for the WE500.

If it is painted with Polane, an epoxy based paint, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye, because that stuff sticks REALLY well to plastics. I have heard that lacquer paint thinner will dissolve Polane, but I have never tried it. I have a can in the garage waiting for some time with a Rose Beige phone painted with that stuff. I think your phone is not painted with Polane because the stuff doesn't chip away like shown in your pictures.

[Greg G.]

I like to give my grimy ones a nice long bath in Oxyclean to see how much of the "color" is actually grime.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1638.0

[John S]

Thanks for all the inputs!!!!  After looking closer at the headset, it does seem to be painted, I can see some paint coming off......I am going to try to some close up pics of it.  I am really confuse now, so was the headset painted?  Its not original?  Dial is original?  Please...any info will be very helpful.........

John