Mills War Eagle - blue variant

[BRADPA3772]

Just back from restoration with fresh paint!

[radiorich123]

Great job love it !

[altort]

Came out nice, was it always that color combination? Do you have any before pictures? We see many primary yellow War Eagles, I have seen a few primary red War Eagles and a hand full of primary blue War Eagles, I have always thought that the red and blue variations were re paints in that variation, I have had a blue variation of the War Eagle for over 15 years and always wondered about the color as it really looks to be original and not a re paint, in the years since I have seen in person an other blue and a few red War Eagles that look also to be all original paint, if yours was blue to start with, when you stripped the paint was there any evidence of yellow on the castings? I would really like to see pictures if you have any as many as possible to try and determine if indeed that color variation was offered at the factory.

[BRADPA3772]

It’s definitely a factory paint job. Bill Darwin, at old time slots, helped verify this because he had the exact same machine that he restored like mine. I’ll add some pictures. There was no evidence of any other prior paints on it. My machine matched Bills prior to restoration. I am particularly happy that there was orange in the color palette with the blue… Matches, my solar octane colored tundra TRD Pro!

[altort]

Glad to see the before pictures, I am certain now that the blue was a factory offered color, like I said I have only seen a hand full of the blue and red War Eagles, definitely a scarce color, wonder if the serial numbers are in sequence mine is 400584, curious to see how close the numbers are to yours.

[BRADPA3772]

I wish I could tell you the serial number. There is none on the casings nor inside the on the wood. I was told early versions had a serial number on a paper tag inside, but if that’s true it’s long gone. The stripping and polishing did not reveal anything prior to paint. What year did yours date to with the serial number?

[nvmos2]

Very interesting; never seen a Red or Blue War Eagle in person.
In addition to a sticker inside the cabinet, Brad's machine would originally have had a serial number stamped into the top casting; in his "before" photos you can see where it was covered/filled in (just right of the award card).
From the 3 photos of original paint schemes shown above, looks like the design just right of escalator window was blue and the background around escalator/coin slot was unpainted.

[altort]

BRADPA3772 the serial numbers should be on the upper casting on the top right of the escalator, not easy to see if covers with thick paint may have been polished out, I always document all stamping and markings on all of the machines that I work on for future reference, the labels on the inside is not unusual to have them fall off and missing.
NVMOS2 I have only seen a hand full of the red or blue variations, now I am more interested then ever to see if others show up to see the serial number sequence, my War Eagle has the serial number stamped on the top of the casting but I have seen the serial number stamped on the front next to the award card, on my slot the design to the right of the escalator is a dark blue same as the blue on the front of the castings, there is no evidence of the textured area around the escalator ever having been painted blue, this slot is a nice original in great shape with the labels intact on the inner cabinet and if I an reading the date properly it is 1-15-37

[BRADPA3772]

Thanks for sharing pictures! I was hoping when the casing were stripped for painting the numbers would appear, but it didn’t happen.