Unusual Mills Castle Front

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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby SLOT DYNASTY » Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:08 pm

Well, just look at this. Wonder of Wonders! Almost a year later, and another shows up. =D>
So now we have three. Just how many others are hiding somewhere behind a false-wall?
Keep us informed of the restoration process. Looking forward to seeing the final outcome.
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby sct2011 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:51 am

No, just two. It was mine pictured on the first page striped of its paint. I will look for a picture of the award card and a closer shot of the reels tonight. I just came across this forum a few months ago.
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby sct2011 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:53 am

This is a close-up of the reels and the award card. It was a yard sale find that I almost walked away from without noticing it on the ground. They wanted more for a wedgehead pinball machine that I eventually purchased at auction the following year.
Attachments
Award Card.jpg
Reels.jpg
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby Anglobritish » Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:58 am

I find it a litle suspecious that both the machines that have been shown here on the forum are completely unpainted, I have attached some pictures of these Mills Blue Front models, the later model had the octogon award card and the club handle the earlier models had the pressed steel handle and the square award card. The picture of the Pioneer mints in the award card window looks all original, I am waiting to see this award card after it is removed from the frame. Personally I think this revamp was done by some large operator after a clampdown on the regular bell models, and then had these castings made to address the situation of the clampdown, this is just a theory, as an operator I could possibly have done such a conversion if I had, had to pull in a bunch of machines from a route, it would be interesting to see the inside front of the machine. The pictures I am attaching either come from my original flyers or from my copies of Spinning Reels.

As Mills made this machine in various combinations from 1933-37 I cannot understand why the model in question was not advertised, Mills advertised virtually every improvement on their machines in "Spinning Reeels" so that just makes it more likely that this was not done by Mills.

Freddy Bailey
7. Mills Blue Front with Side Vendor-2 001.jpg
5. Mills 25c  Mystery Castle Front (RoundChrome award card) 1933.jpg
Mills Castle Front 1937.jpg
5a. Millss Mystery Castle Front 1933.jpg
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby oldtimeslots.com » Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:58 am

In response to this discussion I posted my "unusual find" of my Red Front Castle machine one year ago today and I have not touched it since. There is remnants of the original paint so it is not an unpainted machine. Here is a picture of the inside of the lower casting sporting its MLB number and a picture of the instruction card with the old plastic removed.
I have many more pictures and if any one is interested please email me at bill@oldtimeslots.com.
Thanks,
Bill
Attachments
image.jpg
image.jpg
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby sct2011 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:27 am

My machine's front casting matches the MLB # mentioned earlier. I've also included a detail of how the shield was originally painted. It was a personal choice to strip the paint when rebuilding the cabinet. The serial number on the paper tag inside matches the round metal badge in front of the mint vender, the number is #432907. I would be interested in how the repair of cracked/broken castings can be handled because that is what I want to do before the repaint.
Attachments
Painted Shield.jpg
Detail of the painted shield
Inside Left.jpg
Inside Left showing serial #
Inside Right.jpg
Inside Right showing the MLB #
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby Anglobritish » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:32 am

Mills Hit Parade 1941-4.jpg
Mills Hit Parade 1941-3.jpg
Mills Hit Parade 1941-2.jpg
Mills Hit Parade 1941-1.jpg
5c. Mills Drill Proof-4.jpg
5b. Mills Drill Proof-3.jpg
5a. Mills Drill Proof-2.jpg
5. Mills Drill Proof-1.jpg
Mill Red Front.jpg
Mill Red Front.jpg (14.99 KiB) Viewed 5634 times
Mill Red Front-2.jpg
In my previous blog, I said I thought this could not be a Mills production model, I now having second thoughts, as I have first looked at the third machine that as appeared on the Forum, that machine as the remnants of Red paint on the main area that was Blue on the original Blue Front models, now I check out the various for sale adds that appeared in 1937-38 from Moseley Vending Machine Exchange, who was a very big Mills distributor, he is advertising Mills Red Fronts with Future pay and Top Indicator, he is also stating that these are high numbers. Also any of the Blue Front era models that had a Club handle must have drill proof cases, I am also attaching some more Mills broches showing some of these new improvements by Mills.

Freddy
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby damikeguy » Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:58 pm

Freddy,
I enjoy reading your posts. =D> Such a good read and soo interesting all of the old articles and pictures. It would be nice to sit down and share a few drinks with you some day. I'll buy! Maybe at the show in April if your in town.
Mike
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby Midcoast Vintage » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:38 am

"MILLS FUTURE PAY GOLDEN VENDOR"
Here is a video of a SIMILAR machine, with much good information.
The machine shown in the video, Does have a jackpot, and, gold award for payouts, as well as having skill stops.
It is also RED (restored to original colors).
In Dick Bueschel's book "LEMONS, CHERRIES, and BELL FRUIT GUM", there are reprints of original Mills advertising flyers for this machine.
I do not have the book in front of me at this time, as, i have loaned it to someone, so, i can not remember, or, state as to whether it shows the model with no jackpot / gold award as is being discussed in this forum, however, it DOES have the top FUTURE PAY MECHANISM, as does the machine in question. And... the machine is RED, not blue.
The video goes into detail on the inside workings of the mechanism, which is pretty interesting, as is the history and production dates of the machine which are also discussed.
Hopefully, this will shed SOME, insight into the POSSIBLE origin of the machine(s) in question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuNrIvYLOU

here is a link to a partial flyer from the Larry Debaugh website:
http://www.oldslots.com/LiteraturePages/castlefront.php
Last edited by Midcoast Vintage on Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Unusual Mills Castle Front

Postby Anglobritish » Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:04 pm

Mill Red Front-dick bueschel-1.jpg
Mill Red Front-dick bueschel-2.jpg
Mill Red Front-dick bueschel-3.jpg
Regarding the comments made regarding the mysterious "Red Front", there is no where that shows a production machine with a solid front, they all have live jackpots, when you talk about it being in Dick Bueschels book "Lemon's Cherries and Bell-Fruit-Gum", (See pictures from the book)this still does not prove that Mills made a machine with this solid front, the flyer shown in the book (See attached) does not describe a solid front, this only proves that Mills produced their Future play machine in Red as the primary colors, as is shown in the Youtube Video. Dick also states that this was a special order in 1936 and became standard in 1937, that is impossible because the flyer only shows a model that was discontinued in late 1935 and then Mills introduced their new model in 1936 with the new club handle and drill proof cabinet, they also introduced at the same time their large JP model that was self loading from the front of the machine, (See my previous pictures)

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