7mm Kiosk Number Six - K6 by PECO

[Overseer]

Around 60,000 K6 telephone boxes were installed all over Britain from 1935 onwards. They were designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to be a less expensive phone box than the K2 he had designed in the 1920s, for widespread installation in towns to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee. King George didn't survive for long into the installation programme but the K6s did. There a few variants, the Scottish ones have a different crown and the Hull ones no crown at all. There were initially four variants in door location and swing, so K6a, K6b, K6c and K6d. Later the side doors were swung either hand so two more possible options. Nowhere was too small for a K6.


Peco introduced a 7mm plastic kit fairly recently. I need at least one K6 for my 1950s layout so thought I would try it out. Two kiosks are packaged in a small blue box. The mouldings are crisp and the parts go together very well. The main problem for me is that Peco have included the later STD phone instead of the original 'Jubilee' interior. So I have done a bit of research and drawn the fittings if anyone else wants to use the information, the pdf should be attached.



I am in the middle of making the original fittings in one box, still need to carve a telephone and sort out the notices.

I think I will have to add a bit of beading around the roof to get it a bit closer to the original. The side and door panels are a bit flat as well but not sure if it is worth sorting them out as it will involve substantial cutting and shutting. The glazing is intended to be fixed to the inside which means the glazing bars will look too deep. Not sure if this will bother me yet. I may also cut out the 'TELEPHONE' sign areas on the next one to set the signs back a bit further.

Detail of the top of one of the K6 boxes in freezing conditions in northern Scotland, spot the different crowns.

Overall, a very useful, accurately scaled model which is easy to work on and a good price.

 

[Dan Randall]

An excellent historical narrative about the dear old K6 - I used to have a real one in my back garden in Slough about fifteen years ago.

When I moved house, I had it transported to my brother's front garden in Virginia Water, as there was no room for it at my new place, though sadly, he could only accommodate it by laying it on its side on the driveway. About five years later, he and his girlfriend wanted to landscape their front garden, so I reluctantly had to sell it. I believe it now resides, fulfilling its original task, in a caravan park somewhere in Wales.

I do still have a glass "TELEPHONE" panel somewhere, though I haven't a clue where it is at the moment. Interestingly, the lettering in a very dark maroon colour, not black as it always seems to appear in photographs.

The Peco kit looks a lot better than the etched brass Langley version that I have, so I may well put some money Peco's way soon!


Regards

Dan

 

[Puddlejumper]

Great stuff and very generous of you to share
Thanks

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Wahey! Someone else with a weirdness for phone boxes... or do I presumeth too much?

It looks very nice. I have a weeny 4mm version (I think it's Langley - so probably monitored by the CIA..)

Anyway, for those with a penchant, dip yer toes here: The Telephone Box And revel in the ones that are Listed Buildings!

Cheers

Jan

 

[Overseer]

Wahey! Someone else with a weirdness for phone boxes... or do I presumeth too much?

It looks very nice. I have a weeny 4mm version (I think it's Langley - so probably monitored by the CIA..)

Anyway, for those with a penchant, dip yer toes here: The Telephone Box And revel in the ones that are Listed Buildings!

Cheers

Jan

Sorry, I can only claim a healthy interest and will leave any weirdness for others. Fortunately there a plenty of people with an obsessive interest who host websites full of all you could want to know. But not necessarily in an immediately useful form, hence my redrawing of an online scan of an original drawing. It is not so long ago that finding this sort of information was really difficult. One of the early issues of Modellers Back Track had a very good article explaining the development from K1 to K8 and beyond, it increased my knowledge exponentially.

I will admit to having a 4mm K3 from Langley which went together quite well, I think it looks a better rendition of the concrete kiosk than their K6 does of the Jubilee kiosk. I still need to build an Edinburgh Police box to accompany the K3 for a slowly maturing model of the Morningside Station tram terminus in P4 (I like the setting and the anomaly of the tram terminus being called Morningside Station while the nearby station was named Morningside Road), but that is for some time in the future, although if anyone has unpublished photographs I would like to see them.

 

[Broad Sword]

I'm very glad you included the Hull Corporation telephone system being a retired employee. The boxes have always been painted cream, firstly with green window glazing bars and then all cream. There was a time when management thought it would be cheaper to use white paint but public opinion over ruled them.
The East Riding Fine Scale Group, of which I am a founder member , built for Bachmann a layout to go in the NRM and we could not resist painting the box across the road from the station cream.