Antique Candlestick Telephone (1:1 Scale)
Antique Candlestick Telephone (1:1 Scale) from Toby Maher
Antique Candlestick Telephone (1:1 Scale)

This is a model I made while studying at the City of Glasgow College as part of a project where we were to create a historic prop with ties to Scottish history and culture. I chose to research and build a replica of an antique GPO Model 150 Candlestick Telephone which was in storage at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre. The connection to Scottish culture was through the creator of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell as he was a famous Scot.

The model itself is made from lathe-turned tooling board, laser-cut acrylic and styrene. The finish is majority acrylic paint with the weathering being done with powders.

This was my first time extensively researching and designing a model and working on the lathe. I contacted the museum to organise a visit to collect dimensions which I used to create technical drawings. I used the lathe to turn tooling board into the mouth piece, base, and earpiece as well as part of the neck.

(Build thread starts at the bottom.)

Final model
The base colour of the actual phone is gloss black but I also wanted to weather it to show the age of the antique. On the antique there are areas where the paint has chipped off so what I did to replicate this was rip up bits of masking tape and stick them around the phone before spraying.
I tore off the tape before the paint completely dried so that it would lift a little lip of paint. The areas left uncovered where then painted with acrylic paint and rust pigments.
I then stuck this piece back on the lathe with the body filler imprint and carefully smoothened it to the same dimension as the dial. I also added details for the final bit.
It left me with the perfect imprint of the base's curve and came right off the base because I'd used wax to stop it from sticking.
This was quite an intricate bit that my teacher Simon taught me and talked me through. There was a dial on the phone that sits slanted at an angle so instead of trying to carve the curve into a flat surface I waxed up the base, turned the dial on the lathe and used body filler to push this against the curve until it cured.
The model being close to completion.
Laser cut and a strip of heat formed acrylic for the earpiece clip.
Using CAD to laser cut acrylic pieces for the above neck joint.
A curved joint that plugs into the top of the acrylic tube being turned on the lathe.
Hollowed out mouthpiece.
Using a hollowing tool to create the indent in the mouthpiece as it spins on the lathe.
Just like the base I did the mouthpiece in steps and made a guide out of styrene to get the curve right.
Earpiece ready to be parted off of the lathe.
WIP of the earpiece on the lathe - this was done in steps like the base.
Finished base
The base of the phone on the lathe. You can see how I have built the curve in steps, this was sanded into the curved base piece you see above with the plug for the acrylic neck.
These are a series of technical drawings I drew on a drawing board that represent the front and left side elevation on a 1:1 scale. I was able to get the exact measurements by visiting the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre and measuring the actual antique.
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Antique Candlestick Telephone (1:1 Scale)

This is a model I made while studying at the City of Glasgow College as part of a project where we were to create a historic prop with ties to Scottish history and culture. I chose to research and build a replica of an antique GPO Model 150 Candlestick Telephone which was in storage at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre. The connection to Scottish culture was through the creator of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell as he was a famous Scot.

The model itself is made from lathe-turned tooling board, laser-cut acrylic and styrene. The finish is majority acrylic paint with the weathering being done with powders.

This was my first time extensively researching and designing a model and working on the lathe. I contacted the museum to organise a visit to collect dimensions which I used to create technical drawings. I used the lathe to turn tooling board into the mouth piece, base, and earpiece as well as part of the neck.

(Build thread starts at the bottom.)

Toby Maher
Production Artist Glasgow, United Kingdom