Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby 719norman » Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:56 am

Thanks everyone for the input on the Mills FOK machine. Dave, Waltingboy, and Altort; your comments and pics are invaluable and I am lucky that you guys have taken the time to educate a novice slot collector. From all the input, I only have one concern...the comment from Altort when he mentioned he did not see any brake wire(s) from the pic. I did a little research and see that there are usually three break wires (one for each reel) and they look like a solid bent metal peace. From what I read; the break wire controls the reel speed/stop, but I am not sure of the location of the break wire (are they located between the reels?). The machine that I posted pics on, does work (no problems), could the brake wires have been removed (and should I be concerned of future problems) or are the brake wires there and am I overlooking them? Altort, thanks again for the pics and taking the time to point out what Waltingboy was talking about on the lock-outs for the mints. Dave what a great web-site you have developed.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby andydotp » Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:03 am

Hi 719norman
The brake wires fit on those three little tabs on the upper horizontal flat at the back of the mech and are held in place (usually) by wing nuts. If you peer between the reels you'll see grooved wheels - they sit in these and provide added friction. They only really impede 'bounce' when the reel stop levers drop into place and are quite often missing.
Easy to find on ebay or via Mrslot or someone.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby nvmos2 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 7:53 am

REF: What's correct color scheme for Mills FOK?

I also have a "restored" FOK that matches the colors in Slots on Parade.
I suspect that some guys who restore machines used that book as a color guide, at least for a while after it came out.
Unfortunately, several comments in other threads here indicate the book is a good coffee table book, but a poor reference guide.

Interesting: On the machine pictured here, all the little oddly shaped bits and pieces around the eagles look like they are left unpainted.
On mine and in Slots on Parade, they are just painted over with the background blue.

Fortunately we know the original paint scheme from the Mills color flyer published in Slots 1 (100 Collectible Machines) (p 38) and Lemons, Cherries and Gum (p 88), and it is quite different from Slots on Parade.
There is also a picture of a machine in Fey's Slot Machines with the original scheme (p 160), but it was probably restored to match the flyer.
Don't know if Mills made them in other colors, but it is very interesting that 3reel had an original machine that he remembers to match Slots on Parade.

Another interesting little detail:
The raised/cutout areas of the 2 eagle eyeballs on my machine are distinctly different from the ones in Slots on Parade.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby 3reel » Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:31 pm

Just a note here about brake wires. These little guys are very important. The mechanism speed is usually set by the clock and it's fan, but with fan tips bent at various angles on various machines to speed up mech., you really need those brake wire assemblies adjusted just right to slow the reels down enough so that the stop levers fall into the reel hub star wheels at a whisper. Any "bouncing" of the reels is putting undue stress on the whole mech., especially the reel hubs that telescope into each other and ride on the steel axle. They are hardened brass, which makes them brittle but wear resistant on the same token. Any hard jolting or bouncing when the reels come to a stop can crack them or crack and break the billet aluminum reel hubs. The brake wires are VERY important especially on the early 10 stop mech's and a couple of Mill's 20 stop mech's where they incorporate the "solid" stop levers. Later, Mills went to the "Knee action" stop levers to help relieve stresses on stopping the reels. Some original machine's (& repro's) back doors still have the glued-on operators instructions which does mention the reel stop speed.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby neocoinops » Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:40 am

Here is a photo of what is billed as an original Silent FOK from a Chicagoland Show a few years ago.

Image
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby SLOT DYNASTY » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:40 pm

CORRECTOMUNDO! Definately an all original FOK machine, (but loose the lifesavers), with correct colors, and well worth the price tag.
This is the condition that the late Bob Levy had a knack for finding them in. He sure 'beat-the-bushes', and came up with some great machines.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby nvmos2 » Tue Apr 09, 2013 5:52 pm

neocoinops has posted the correct color scheme for a FOK and confirmed by slot dynasty.
Additionally, there is an old period advertising flyer on ebay item number 121085612982 which shows the original Mills "standard" color scheme for the FOK as well as the War eagle and Lion Head.
The more I see the standard FOK, the more attractive it becomes, maybe that just because of knowing that it is correct.

But one can't help but wonder; since there are so many painted like the one that started this thread, is that because the restorers just copied Slots on Parade as if it were gospel,
or did restorers find them with remnants of original paint that way or did a revamper come up with the color scheme, rather than a modern restorer.
Additionally there have been several FOKs with a color scheme same as the SMOP machine only the red and blue are reversed; for example see ebay item 330900635295.
The seller of that one is knowledgeable about coinop, but, unfortunately, does not know what color remnants were on it when it was found.

So, we know the standard FOK colors,
but perhaps Mills had variations or special order colors that are also correct,
or Mills/other revampers may have revamped machines with fresh colors.
Until we know for sure, I guess anything other than standard is just modern fantasy colors.
Someday someone will come up with definitive evidence.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby altort » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:26 pm

Those are the colors I discovered when I restored my F.O.K., got it in Chicago I wile back and it had a thick coat of brown paint, after I used a stripper to remove the brown paint the colors and areas that we painted over revealed the colors I painted the slot, I don't know if my slot was revamped, but when I got it it had Rock-o-la decals on both sides with the operator's initials branded over the decals. Now to me this slot looks all mills and I am not sure about the Rock-o-la connection but when I restored the slot I chose to put the Rock-o-la decals back on and re burnt the operators initials back in. I took many pictures of this restoration from beginning to end and I did put life savers in so when used one can get a roll and be able to it.
Attachments
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fok1.jpg
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby Dave » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:52 pm

You did a very nice restoration on that machine.

I always enjoy seeing before/after photos of a machine.

I see nothing Rock-Ola about that machine. I agree that it looks 100% Mills to me.
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Re: Mills Modern Front FOK; Real or Reproduction

Postby Dave » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:58 pm

nvmos2 wrote:neocoinops has posted the correct color scheme for a FOK and confirmed by slot dynasty.
Additionally, there is an old period advertising flyer on ebay item number 121085612982 which shows the original Mills "standard" color scheme for the FOK as well as the War eagle and Lion Head.
The more I see the standard FOK, the more attractive it becomes, maybe that just because of knowing that it is correct.

....


Here is the flyer

WAR_EAGLE_FLYER.JPG
FOK_FLYER.JPG
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