A cream K6

 

On a recent layout shoot, I found myself near Hull. Now, the thing I know about Hull, is that their telephone boxes are cream, and don't feature a royal crest. It's all to do with being part of a seperate network to the Post Office - you can read the full details here. 

I've known about these boxes for decades, ever since reading the excllent book, Requiem for a Red Box. But, being a long way from the area, I'd never actually seen one. 

Ignoring how weird it sounded, at the end of the shoot, I asked if there was a cream box in the vicinity. The layout owners looked at me a bit old fashioned, but thought there was one in Brantingham, a couple of miles away. 

Off I set, and eventually found myself in a picturesque village, and beside the duck pond, was the object of my search!

No longer a working telephone box, inside is a little guide and history. Apparenlty, this is the most Westerly cream box in the district, so I was lucky to find it. It's condition is excellent, so obviously a well-loved piece of the landscape. 

You can visit the box on Streetview. 

 

Hello from a K8

 

Spotted during an essential coffee stop on the way to a photo shoot in Hereford. I've always liked the K8 telephone box, and it's nice to see one still on show - although perhaps a coat of paint is called for?

Book Review: Phone Kiosks of the Isle of Man

Let's not beat around the bush - there are few books more calculated to get me to hit the "Buy now" button that one that combines my twin interests of the Isle of Man, and telephone kiosks. 

I might be a niche market, but it's a very comfortable niche. 

The book tours Mona's Isle with a selection of captioned photos of various kiosks and their surrounding scenery. 

The author has looked beyond the classic K6 box and includes some of the modern(ish) KX1000 range. With these being very much under threat, it's only fair that they get a look in before they are also only a memory on our streets - after all, when was the last time you saw a Mercury kiosk?  

Most excitingly for 'phone box nerds, the island is home to three K8 boxes!

I'll admit, this book looks a lot like my photo collection. At least two scrapbooks full of similar photos exist on my shelves, and countless files on my computer. The thing is, photographing a 'phone box is a great way to learn composition. It's a standard item, so the skill is making each one look its best. Great fun!

For me, this is a great way to look around the Island's lesser know spots. Some I'm familiar with. Others less so but I'll look up if and when we can travel again. 

Production is very good. Photos are well reproduced in colour. The captions are long enough - after all, there's not that much you can say each time!

It's nice to see many boxes being repurposed as defibrillator holders or mini libraries. Our streetscape would be poorer without them. 

I bought my copy from the Lexicon Bookshop in Douglas.

K6 'phone box

The finished K6 phone box looks rather nice.Dry brushing with a mix of Humbrol 153 and 147, the effect is of slightly faded paint - the state most boxes spent their lives in once the initial gloss had died down.

Telephone signs are printed on the instruction sheet and are therefore the wrong colour (black instead of maroon) but they look sharper than hand lettering would do. Perhaps a waterslide transfer would have been better?

Anyway, a nice little kit from Peco. Cheaper than etched brass and something pretty much any O gauge layout could find a home for.

Inside the box

Oh dear Peco. What have you done?

What we expected from a firm as traditional as you inside our phone box was a Button B interior, like this:



What we find in the kit is a modern(ish) phone more suitable for a 1980s scene. Even the post Button B version with a black plastic phone would have been good. Instead we get one made from stainless steel.

Ho hum. I've painted it up anyway. You'll notice the short lived blue handset and black plastic buttons. The later were quickly replaced with metal versions when it was found that addicts were setting light to them and sniffing the fumes.

What you can't see properly in the photo, but is there in real life, is glazing sheet stuck inside the windows. Peco have been generous with this with 2 sheets, enough for 3 boxes in the kit. I've stuck it in with a couple of drops of plastic cement and then flooded the top and bottom with liquid glue, letting capillary action take it everywhere required.

Another mystery though is why no floor is provided. Cutting a piece of 2mm thick plastic isn't a problem and there are even suitable slots for it to lodge in, but nothing on the sprue.

Peco K6 telephone box

I've always had a thing for red telephone boxes.I love the idea of a standard building dotted around the countryside, and of course they are now indisputably vintage now we all have mobiles.

When I spotted that Peco had introduced a 7mm plastic kit for the classic K6 kiosk, I knew I was going to have to build one. With an O gauge project on the horizon, now is the time to take the plunge.

More to the point, there are two kits in the box and I'll only need one, so the first can be built for fun.

First impressions are good. The mouldings are fine with commendably thin glazing bars. The door is moulded into the side so leaving it open, something that almost never happens on real boxes thanks to the strong door closer, is very difficult. I especially hate this on 4mm scale boxes from Merit where the sign is incorrectly moulded into the door. If I'm being picky, the sides don't have enough relief, the door and windows are slightly proud on the real thing and not at all proud on the kit.

Work starts with a spray of Humbrol 153 Matt Insignia Red followed by a blast of satin varnish. I'd not bother for 4mm but in 7, it's nice to see a little sheen and airbrushing paint really kills any hint of this. This is then left to dry before work starts on the interior, of which more tomorrow.

K8 Telephone Kiosk shock

Writing yesterdays post about the National Vintage Communications Fair, I linked off to the Wikipedia entry for the K8 telephone box. According to the ever reliable site, there only 12 of these little structures left in the wild.

How did this happen?

When I was a kid in the 1970s, they were everywhere. Classic K6 boxes (the ones you think of when someone says "Telephone Box") were uprooted for these more modern versions. No shopping precinct was complete without a couple of them. Years ago, the design said modern...

According to Gavin Stamp, the K8 was designed by Bruce Martin, an architect who had on pre-fabricated school building methods. Originally to be cast in aluminium alloy, the Post Office decided that this was insufficiently robust and replaced with cast iron, a material they were far happier with. They also painted it red rather than the unpainted metal originally specified.

The first order was placed with the Lion Foundry in January 1968 for 1000 kiosks at a price of £100 or £68 per kiosk less than the older K6 design. The first example appeared in Old Palace Yard, Westminster 7 months later. 11,000 followed.

If there really are only 12 left, I think that is sad.

Modellers note: The model is Shire Scenes etched kit sat on a Games Workshop plastic base. The figure comes from the Merit telephone box, the dog and road sign from Langley.

There is a Flickr group for photos of K8 kiosks here.

3D printed 4mm scale K6 telephone box

How's that for a title full of Google juice ?



Yes, the final (for the moment) trip into the world of 3D printing has arrived. The man from UPS dropped off a box big enough for a reasonable sized cat or two modest tubs of ice cream. Inside was loads of polystyrene and a small packet containing the parts show above. Methinks that Shapeways boss ought to go down to the packing department and have a quiet word with them.

Anyway, the parts are printed in a soft and flexible material which apparently allows for greater detail than the stuff used before. It certainly works - those glazing bars are incredibly thin. Even injection moulding would be pushed to replicate this. The telephone on the back wall is very nice too, better than the whitemetal ones I've used in the past.

Assembly required simply clipping the sides into the base and then the top on to these. Some glue in the corners is a good idea. One problem is that the material makes the parts very difficult to see and it took me a couple of goes to work out that the door must be opposite the back wall or the corners don't work. It's very flexible too making things a little more tricky.

Once stuck together, I sprayed the model with Modelmates primer and then several coats of Humbrol satin red. Slightly too many as it turns out as one of the "Telephone" signs is a little flooded. With the paint on I could also see my duff assembly, too late to do anything about it. Let's just hope no-one notices the door is ajar... The surface of the sides isn't flat either but covered with micro furrows in bands. From normal viewing distances the effect is OK by if you look very closely you'd wish you'd used etched brass.

Finally there is a problem that may or may not be connected with the material - the paint won't dry. 18 hours after spraying, it's still tacky.

K6 box on Shapeways website

K8 Telephone box

K8 Telephone box
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

I've been writing about telephone boxes this week, a subject that fascinates me (I'm such an anorak) and has resulted in a quite a lot of models in my collection.

One that didn't make it into the piece was this little diorama. It's a K8 box built using a Shire Scenes etched brass kit. Inside is the man from a Peco 'phone (Am I the last person to put an apostrophe before this word) box kit. The base comes courtesy of Games Workshop and the dog and road sign are Langley.

The finishing touch of the sign along the front came from the kit etch. Probably not what the designer intended, but it works just the same.
Please ecuse the lack of prototype history. I simply can't get better than this website.