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Chemically Sanding 'The Cowpat' (BT 'Dawn')

Started by FABphones, July 10, 2018, 12:11:43 PM

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FABphones

This telephone is catalogued as 'Dawn', although every BT engineer I have ever known has unaffectionately called it 'The Cowpat' (another nickname was The Pancake but I have never met anyone who called it that). A much maligned design which was part of the 1980's BT special collection.

I fancied getting another phone to chemically sand, and I saw this advertised as 'yellow'. They never made yellow I thought .....although I do remember a buttercream colour ....it must be discoloured Ivory. Wrong. They did make yellow - 'Pale Yellow'. As I (now) recall, that was what I thought of as an Ivory 'Buttercream' colour. And sure enough 'Buttercream' turned up.

It only cost me £4.50 so I was willing to take a chance. A bit more of a chance as it turned out. It arrived with handset on cradle, one layer of bubble wrap around the outside and placed inside one of those grey 'no padding whatsoever' plastic posting bags. And it survived.  :o

And so I set to tidying it up. Beginning to take it apart I noticed the fingerplate was similar to my 554's. It removed in exactly the same way so I did a bit of swotting up:

*Made for BT by Northern Telecom (UK)
*Introduced March 1981,available in three colours:
Pale Yellow, Avocado Green and White

Spec sheet says the phone should have the same colour handset cord and line cord as the phone. My line cord isn't the same colour so I checked the number underneath (see photo) which confirms mine was one of the 1981 first issues and would have originally had a hardwired line cord.

This is actually a nice phone with some weight to it and lovely curves. The gold band around the perimeter cleaned up nicely too.

So, here it is, before and after pics of the cleanup using the acetone, acetone/meths, T-Cut, #5 polish method:
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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RB


Key2871

What a nice transformation. Good job! And congratulations that it arrived in one piece, well as it were.
KEN

HarrySmith

Very Nice! Looks like Phoneitis has set in full blast! How many phones are you up to?
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Quote from: HarrySmith on July 10, 2018, 01:59:40 PM
Very Nice! Looks like Phoneitis has set in full blast! How many phones are you up to?

Not as many as some of you guys, but all the same I haven't dared to count. It took me decades to get my first 10, I had it totally under control until I discovered this site.  :-[

I bought another display cabinet a couple of weeks ago (have filled it too), as no room was left in the display unit I made. I'll do a count up tomorrow and edit this post.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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Owain

#5
Quote from: FabPhones on July 10, 2018, 12:11:43 PMMy line cord isn't the same colour so I checked the number underneath (see photo) which confirms mine was one of the 1981 first issues

The date code sticker is 84 12 which suggests Dec 1984 as manufacturing date.

The green approved sticker with the GF reference means it was a grandfathered approval status, approved by BT in 1981. Independent BABT approvals launched in July 1982.

In 1984 it would have been made with the new BT D-shape cord, and it's highly likely that colour-matched line cords were not made for the small quantities of these phones sold. The same problem applies to Trimphones. Even when it was launched with a colour-matched cord, the old jack plug 505 was grey.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/tsr1008.htm


FABphones

Quote from: Owain on July 10, 2018, 02:53:44 PM
The date code sticker is 84 12 which suggests Dec 1984 as manufacturing date.

Interesting. That sticker has been on all of these phones that I have seen recently, not sure it is a date ref, but always willing to investigate further. The line cord info is printed on the larger sticker, before the 1981 area.

As an aside, you won't believe how many times I've read 'I think the phone cost £84.12 new as the price sticker is still on it'.  ;D
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

HarrySmith

Quote from: FabPhones on July 10, 2018, 02:43:33 PM
Not as many as some of you guys, but all the same I haven't dared to count. It took me decades to get my first 10, I had it totally under control until I discovered this site.  :-[

I bought another display cabinet a couple of weeks ago (have filled it too), as no room was left in the display unit I made. I'll do a count up tomorrow and edit this post.

You were warned :)
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Quote from: HarrySmith on July 10, 2018, 01:59:40 PM
Very Nice! Looks like Phoneitis has set in full blast! How many phones are you up to?

Schhh (whispers) keepers, over 50...   8)

Have a few on top of that to sell on as not my colourway inc a nice Blue Trimphone (but Mr F likes that one).

I have a few, but not too many, of what I call cheapies but there are some more special phones are in there too, inc a Hull phone, Ivory 3 button 514 (my first), 1924 Column, GPO Candlestick, plus quite a few other favourites now.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

HarrySmith

OK, I guess you are still in the early stages. Only 50 phones is just a start. When it get to 10 times that you are in the final stages of the disease and all is lost!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Quote from: HarrySmith on July 11, 2018, 06:51:26 AM
......only 50 phones is just a start. When it get to 10 times that you are in the final stages of the disease and all is lost!

You've got me curious now, come on then, how many have you got?  ;D

Honestly though, I am trying to slow down a bit...... I don't want tooooo many more....  ;) :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

HarrySmith

I have about 25 on display in various places around the house and around 300 in storage.
That qualifies as full blown Phoneitis!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Quote from: HarrySmith on July 11, 2018, 10:42:27 AM
I have about 25 on display in various places around the house and around 300 in storage.
That qualifies as full blown Phoneitis!

Yikes. Yes it certainly does!
No 'wow/gasp/open mouthed' icon so here's mine -    :-o

:)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

andy1702

I'll go along with the date of Dec 84 as shown on the 'price tag' type sticker. But why does it say 'Made in England'? Surely that's not quite right somehow.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

FABphones

#14
Quote from: andy1702 on July 11, 2018, 04:06:39 PM
I'll go along with the date of Dec 84 as shown on the 'price tag' type sticker. But why does it say 'Made in England'? Surely that's not quite right somehow.

My query for quite a while now, has been if it is a date, why would a UK made phone have a none UK date format (YY/MM instead of the usual MM/YY)? And why would GEC/BT use such a cheap label to date them.

Ah the mysteries of phones....
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************