Coin Slot

Issue: 1978 February 037

Coin Slot Magazine - #037 - 1978 - February [International Arcade Museum]
OLD TIMER'S MESSAGE
(Ed. Note: Not too long ago we received a cassette tape from Raymond
Lucan, an old time slot operator from Chicago. On the tape Mr. Lucan
expressed his feelings about a great many things and wanted to share
them with todays collectors.
The following excerpts, taken from his
tape, are something we hope you will find interesting and informative.
I hope that any statement that I make I'm making from my own heart
and feelings, and that they do not offend people too much.
At times today, it irks me to read some of the articles on restorations.
They are alright as far as they go, but some of them cause collectors to
misunderstand the way we did things back in the old days.
For in
stance, take the article written by Ben Romano on restoring the Rol-A-
Top.
(See Dec. 77 Coin Slot).
There he takes one of the very last
machines made by Watling and does research on it to find out how they
finished them as far as looks go.
.the way Ben says they were.
But all the Rol-A-Tops weren't done
When you're restoring a machine, I'm
under the impression that that machine should be restored to what the
manufacturer put out at the time.
Now my first job in the slot machine business started in 1929, when I
got paid $6.00 a week at that time.
My main job for a long time was
just painting the aluminum part of machines after they had been cleaned
and buffed.
They were not plated in any way, because we didn't know
what plating was.
gloss.
All the aluminum parts were just buffed to a high
Then they were turned over to me and I painted them the same
colors as they originally were.
Now today a lot of the boys are really enthusiastic about their paint
and other things like this and they all have different ideas about it.
But
they can't paint the way we did back in those days because we used a
com
.
You m
can't
brush lacquer today.
:
m As u far
eu
o
s
It has to be sprayed on nowadays.
as brushes go, nobody knew
r
f
ed in ad those
e-m days. We couldn't put paint on
d back
what an air brush was
a
o
l
c
r
n Ben
with an air brush
w.a does.
Dow like
w
w
://
http goes, I would like to give away a little secret here.
As far as painting
laquer paint you put on with a brush.
Ben says he uses Q-tips to remove paint from the top of the letters and
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
Coin Slot Magazine - #037 - 1978 - February [International Arcade Museum]
other areas where it isn't supposed to be.
Now if he were to take a
piece of hard finished cloth, like a douche towel for instance, or a piece
of bed sheet, and put lacquer thinner on it, and then if he were to scratch
it over a large cork he could rub around over the top of those letters
and clean those letters off in a fraction of the time that it takes him to
do the job with Q-tips.
It's quite an idea he has there, but too time
consuming.
Now when the Rol-A-Top first came out it was a solid casting.
There
wasn't any removable Horn-of-Plenty on the first models. And the horn-
of-plenty was not brass plated, it was painted. In many instances it
wasn't even painted, but simply left bare aluminum. Some were painted
gold. They changed it frequently because they wanted something cliff-
ferent to sell.
which isn't so.
ferently.
Now
plywood case.
Ben's article indicates there is only one way to do it,
Depending on the machine you had you did things dif
Ben had one of the newer machines because it had a
The older machines had hardwood cases made of solid
oak.
I'm sure Ben's machine is beautiful and a real showpiece.
But the meth
od he uses to restore it is for one machine only, one vintage of year. It"
isn't a set standard for all Rol-A-Tops.
depending on the year.
They were done differently
I believe Ben's machine was made in the last
year Watling made the Rol-A-Top.
It was only the last two or three*
years that the Rol-A-Tops had a removable horn-of-plenty. In fact, I
never saw a removable horn until I began restoring them. That's why
I know it had to be one of the last models.
Also, when these young collectors today are wondering what to buy,
and not wanting to pick up gimmicks, they must be very careful.
I
think collectors should know what originally went on a machine.
The other day I got a machine in that was a dime machine, but it had
a quarter hole in it.
the difference.
Now we know it didn't come out that way.
I know
These are things the collectors should know so he reali
zes what he's getting.
.com
The
m
:
u
m
e as I'am concerned. It also tells
o
s
r
old oak cases are a piece of
work as u far
f
d
e-m of the machine. If the machine
de vintage
d year
you something of oa
the
a
l
c
r
n it w
.a you that it was a cheaper machine put out in
has a plywood
tells
Dow case
w
w
/
:/ times collectors don't realize simple thing like this.
later years. Many
http
The wooden cases on old machines tells you something as well.
Another example is a Mills War Eagle I got in the other day.
piece
of
material
pasted
over
© The International Arcade Museum
It had a
where the Gold Award used to be.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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