Rare 1959 GPO 706 (with Grebe Cords)

[andy1702]

I wonder if you could chemically melt a bit of ABS into that chip rather than using candle wax? If you go to your local pound shop you'll be able to get a small bottle of neat acetone, which they sell as nail varnish remover. I put a few drops in the bottom of an old glass potted beef jar, throw in a few broken bits of ABS of the correct colour and leave for a few hours. If you've not put too much acetone in it will end up as a sticky plastic paste. If it's too liquid either add more plastic or leave the lid off for a bit to allow some acetone to evaporate. when it's the right consistency you should be able to apply it like car body filler. It will eventually dry out and can be sanded or even chemically polished (2cvbloke has done a thread on this somewhere) as the acetone doesn't seem to touch the diakon.

[twocvbloke]

It will eventually dry out and can be sanded or even chemically polished (2cvbloke has done a thread on this somewhere) as the acetone doesn't seem to touch the diakon.

Errrrm, nope, wasn't me!!

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18850.0

[andy1702]

Errrrm, nope, wasn't me!!

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=18850.0

It wasn't that thread either  But it'll do. 

[Hotline]

It wasn't that thread either  But it'll do. 

Thanks gents 

And I have now swapped the grommet onto the Grebe cable! 

Anyone know how many 706 phones were produced?  The article below states only approx 33,000 were ordered in 1959 - which must be a tiny percentage of the total produced.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/37538.php

[andy1702]

Anyone know how many 706 phones were produced?  The article below states only approx 33,000 were ordered in 1959 - which must be a tiny percentage of the total produced.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/37538.php

That's a good question. The simple answer is I don't. The more complicated answer is maybe nobody does. When you say 706, would you include all the other derivatives, like the ones they turned upside down for fitting to walls before a dedicated wall phone was ready? And how about the clones manufactured by people like Plessey and Ericsson? then theres the things like my ivory one, that obviously should have been a 706 but didn't quite make it. I guess there will be some old orders somewhere, but the GPO orders wouldn't include the clones, which must have been quite numerous considering the number that turn up in places like E-Bay.

Another question is how many of each colour were built? I have previously been told the rarest colour was concord blue, but from the number I've been able to find I'm leaning more towards yellow. I think people think the blue ones are rare because they don't realise they've seen one, now thinking they've seen dark green ones instead. I bought one a few weeks ago which the seller swore was green. Now it is green, but that's just with 'tanning'. They also think they see lots of yellow ones, but often these are actually ivory sets with the same sun tan.

Numbers are an interesting question. Perhaps some ex-Bt person can give us a rough idea of the colour and types they installed most?

[Hotline]

That's a good question. The simple answer is I don't. The more complicated answer is maybe nobody does. When you say 706, would you include all the other derivatives, like the ones they turned upside down for fitting to walls before a dedicated wall phone was ready? And how about the clones manufactured by people like Plessey and Ericsson? then theres the things like my ivory one, that obviously should have been a 706 but didn't quite make it. I guess there will be some old orders somewhere, but the GPO orders wouldn't include the clones, which must have been quite numerous considering the number that turn up in places like E-Bay.

Another question is how many of each colour were built? I have previously been told the rarest colour was concord blue, but from the number I've been able to find I'm leaning more towards yellow. I think people think the blue ones are rare because they don't realise they've seen one, now thinking they've seen dark green ones instead. I bought one a few weeks ago which the seller swore was green. Now it is green, but that's just with 'tanning'. They also think they see lots of yellow ones, but often these are actually ivory sets with the same sun tan.

Numbers are an interesting question. Perhaps some ex-Bt person can give us a rough idea of the colour and types they installed most?

I suppose I would include all 706 phones and the clones.

I think you are right about yellow being the rarest colour, I have a yellow 706, but had to check with the seller it was not a sun-tanned ivory one before I bought it!

Concord blue seems to be rare in unfaded condition, I took a chance on one on eBay a couple of months back, a 1966 706, the pictures and description on eBay were poor, but it turned out to be a perfect unfaded example that had never been used!! Not bad for £17 plus postage! 

[andy1702]

Concord blue seems to be rare in unfaded condition, I took a chance on one on eBay a couple of months back, a 1966 706, the pictures and description on eBay were poor, but it turned out to be a perfect unfaded example that had never been used!! Not bad for £17 plus postage! 

The fading / tanning doesn't matter too much to me since I devised a way of dealing with it. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RCxChcycd4

[Hotline]

The fading / tanning doesn't matter too much to me since I devised a way of dealing with it. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RCxChcycd4

I have seen your Youtube videos Andy, they are great! 

[andy1702]

I never had any luck with retrbright, but the acetone / meths thing works well. A bottle green phone arrived here a few weeks ago, which will be getting turned back into a blue one.

[twocvbloke]

I've thought about trying some of the methods to de-yellow plastics (one I've seen is steeping them in peroxide-rich water over a very low heat, no sunlight needed), as I have a few things I'd like to return to their original colour, one of which being an Amiga A500 power supply that just looks awful (should be grey) and an A600 supply that should be ivory-white...

[HarrySmith]

I have had good results with a peroxide hair creme and South Florida sun. Several topics on here about it. Never heard of using heat with peroxide. If you go that way please post the process and reults.

[twocvbloke]

I can go one better and provide someone else's experiments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZYbchvSUDY

He tries out several different methods for restoring the original colours...

[Pourme]

That was a interesting video....

[Hotline]

I never had any luck with retrbright, but the acetone / meths thing works well. A bottle green phone arrived here a few weeks ago, which will be getting turned back into a blue one.

I would be interested to see the results of this one Andy, any chance you could post some photos when done?

[andy1702]

I would be interested to see the results of this one Andy, any chance you could post some photos when done?

I'll try. I've got to find the phone again before I can start though! I'm not sure where it's hiding at the moment.