OMG! Soft Plastic... again!

[LM Ericsson]

After the Lancaster phone show, I decided to visit the Amish country to look around the antique stores. I went the this one place that I never knew was there. There was a whole shelf of telephones. The one phone that stood out to me was a red phone which had a thick. curly gray handset cord. I took it off the shelf and on the side it read 65 dollars. I studied it for damage, and there was. A huge crack on the front which could easily be bonded again. Massive damage that could possibly be repaired where the line cord should be. This phone is red soft plastic with the gray cord. I asked the lady when I paid for it if the price could be reduced by 10 dollars. She said yes so I officially bought it for $55. This phone is from 1955 with all original parts. I believe this phone might have suffered a fall on the floor. I promised myself that I would treat this phone like a "baby". Here are the pics.

[LM Ericsson]

more pics

[TelePlay]

Very nice project to keep you busy for some time.

That mouse hole damage will be the toughest. Somewhere in the forum are details on how to reconstruct it using a mold and bits of plastic from internal ribs. It might be in the same thread as crack repair. If I can find it, I'll add it later.

Keep us up to date with progress photos as work proceeds.

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This one one where a modular conversion was taken back to a mouse hole. Not much into there but it's a start.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4907.msg61894#msg61894

[Sargeguy]

I think I may have a soft plastic shell somewhere that has a minor crack, much easier to repair than this one.  LMK if you are interested.

[LM Ericsson]

This is going to be exciting to clean. So much corrosion and rust!

[TelePlay]

So much corrosion and rust!

Could be it was a 100 year flood that knocked it off the table and bounced it around a few times before the water receded and a picker pulled it out of the mud.  

Does the inside of that red 500 look better or worse than this flood phone?

http://s1271.photobucket.com/user/TelePlay/library/SC%20500?sort=4&page=1

[LM Ericsson]

Mine looks slightly better, but still alot of rust.

[WesternElectricBen]

Looks like a fun project, much more fun than black phones which I'm stuck with now until I get my shipment of phones from lancster. A whole 16 that should keep me busy for 16 days. A phone a day and a video.

Ben

[LM Ericsson]

Finally got it finished. I took a much longer time with this phone than any other phone because it was in such rough condition. There are still some paint specks left, but I got most of them off. I bonded the crack in the front corner with super glue. The fingerwheel had a split in it and bonded it together with the same super glue. The crack on the back corner, however, was left alone. I decided to keep the way it is. This phone now works like a dream!!

[LM Ericsson]

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