T O P I C R E V I E W |
Bill Gill |
Posted - 03/05/2019 : 11:12:22 AM I've been working on this model for quite awhile and still am less than halfway done, but here are a couple shots of some of the interior pieces posed against a scrap piece of matte board that is about the same color that the wall will be. Everything is scratchbuilt. In the first photo the posters above the cabinets are GIMPed in, but will be added when the interior is installed. The magazine rack on the far left is just posed in the photo. It will be on the opposite wall of the pharmacy, next to a soda fountain.

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15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
Bill Gill |
Posted - 03/09/2019 : 08:08:01 AM Thanks, Jim. Nothing like the thud of a quarter to perk up your day :) Thanks, Håkan |
masonamerican |
Posted - 03/09/2019 : 06:37:19 AM Wonderful interior Bill!
Håkan |
BurleyJim |
Posted - 03/08/2019 : 07:35:23 AM I had the Illinois Bell account as a field engineer for big blue. I was at 'headquarters' and being given a tour of the facility. I was amazed that the long distance operators listened for the three separated sounds from the 'thud' of a quarter to the 'ching' of a nickel dropping, and using an adding machine to record the fee. Stone age technology well into the '70's, '80's, '?. Well, at least we didn't have people walking into swimming pools, or having one of these phones sitting on their lap while driving. 
Jim
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Bill Gill |
Posted - 03/08/2019 : 07:22:57 AM Neat stuff, Thanks Louis & Bob! |
sgtbob |
Posted - 03/08/2019 : 06:13:16 AM That looks almost exactly like the ones I used (previous photo) but mine were scratch built in 1/24 scale.
Back in the 1950's when I worked for Bell Telephone as a lineman occasionally I had to visit the building where the local engineers were located. The detectives were in the same building and in the lobby there were several large frames on the walls containing loads of streetcar tokens, washers, foreign coins, all all sorts of stuff that was removed from pay telephones. I always smiled when I noticed down in the corner of one frame a real nickle with a tiny hole drilled in it and a long piece of string attached. Must have broken the string when he tried to pull out back out.
Bob |
desertdrover |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 9:53:22 PM Just a little history; For the first half of the 20th century, most payphones were built by The Gray Telephone and Pay Station Co. of Hartford, Connecticut under contract with Western Electric and other leading companies. In 1889 William Gray got a patent for his innovative coin payment mechanism, which others were unable to replicate. The company also pioneered the popular and highly collectible 'three-slot' (nickel, dime, quarter) payphone configuration popular in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
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quartergauger48 |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 7:25:53 PM Bill, if memory serves me correctly, I recall seeing those signs and using those exact phones mentioned, in air ports through out the country well into the 70s..I think they started to disappear in the mid 80s.... |
Orionvp17 |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 6:23:48 PM quote: Originally posted by Bill Gill
Thanks, Bob, I remember that neat bus station. I'm searching for an HO scale phone with enough detail to look good just inside the window. So far may FOS might have one. Pete, just as well, last week some of the local teens jammed the phone in the general store with a plug nickel - probably tourists from the city :)
Rude people! Coming in like that and sticking plug nickels in the phone? Shocking! 
Pete in Michigan |
Bill Gill |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 5:24:33 PM Thanks, Bob, I remember that neat bus station. I'm searching for an HO scale phone with enough detail to look good just inside the window. So far may FOS might have one. Pete, just as well, last week some of the local teens jammed the phone in the general store with a plug nickel - probably tourists from the city :) |
Orionvp17 |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 5:14:50 PM Nothing there. I looked.... 
Pete in Michigan |
BurleyJim |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 4:50:37 PM Looks like Pete scooped up that nickel out of the coin return. 
Jim |
Orionvp17 |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 3:24:32 PM Bingo!! 
Pete in Michigan |
sgtbob |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 1:55:01 PM 
Bob
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sgtbob |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 1:09:08 PM Bill, I think those signs are good for through the '50s.
I modeled what Pete is saying on my bus station model if you need a look. I modeled a whole bank of phones but the same applied to one phone.
Bob |
Bill Gill |
Posted - 03/07/2019 : 11:41:49 AM Thanks, Bob. Do you have any dates for those signs? My layout is set in 1954. Pete, Thanks. I know what you are talking about and something like that might just fit on the wall next to the soda fountain. |