First Project: The AE-35 Unit! Advice appreciated
- Thread starter Abitofcredit
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I sort of wonder if the top plate is on backwards from the original intent. The bulk of the holes and markings are on the lower section of it, leaving a blank area at the top. That blank area is roughly the size of the part of the box closer to the front, where the compass is located.
joberg
Legendary Member
Thanks for the efforts Neil...if I'm not mistaken, those letters/numbers could be the one you'll find on the margin of a Letraset sheet.
A bit like the instructions on the side of the Aries-1B food tray. I know that, looking at various pics of the sets, some lettering instructions/warnings, etc, were well made and were "logical" (the Pod Bay for example). Some, it seems, were put together without those ''logics": i.e. food tray, AE-35 unit instructions. It's weird that Stanley approved all of these quirky ones, while making sure that others were to be "accurate" to the hilt.
A bit like the instructions on the side of the Aries-1B food tray. I know that, looking at various pics of the sets, some lettering instructions/warnings, etc, were well made and were "logical" (the Pod Bay for example). Some, it seems, were put together without those ''logics": i.e. food tray, AE-35 unit instructions. It's weird that Stanley approved all of these quirky ones, while making sure that others were to be "accurate" to the hilt.
I did consider that, and spent some time looking up various vintage Letraset sheets. Never came across that much that really worked. Do you have any ideas?
Hi, and sorry to be a late-comer to this most excellent thread. I ran across it looking for something totally different, but thought I might have something to contribute.
The red plate over the AE-35 unit might not be a permanent piece of the device, but an overlay used to isolate and identify test points. (then again, it might be permanently mounted but still serving the same purpose) But if it is a temporary overlay, it would explain why it is seen oriented both ways, possibly by accident, such as upside-down in the B&W Getty image. I think as a prop item it is meant to have the lettering right-side-up when facing the camera.
That aside, I have a possible interpretation of some of the text. At the top, it possibly reads
A.E. BORESIGHT ADV.
AE 35 MOD C
CONTROL UNIT
"Boresight" being the term used to aim a highly-directional antenna at a very distant receiver, which of course is what the AE-35 unit does. I'm not certain of the ADV, but it looks like that and could of course be short for "advanced"
At the bottom, it possibly reads
EQP. CHECK OUT
MOD. L.A. 375
But the last line really eludes me. The second line could also read "MOD. L.A. JPL" as a nod to the Jet Propulsion Lab. The "EQP. CHECK OUT" line is what suggests to me that this is an overlay used for testing the device and is removed before putting into service - "Equipment Check Out" (it could also be "EQT." but I think "EQP." is the more common abbreviation for "equipment")
The rest of the markings are likely just random stuff to supposedly represent circuit segments or test points, and good luck figuring out the numbers and letters. With one exception (or actually three): There are several dotted circles, three of which have 3 letters inside, two of which have holes with the letters as well. I suggest that C, B, and E are the three letters, which stand for the Collector, Base, and Emitter of transistors. In the 1960s, integrated circuits were nearly non-existent with transistors being the high-tech of the day, and they were commonly in small round packages with the three leads arranged in a triangle, such as the markings on this plate.
Oh, and my money would be on the font being Futura, which was extensively used by NASA at the time.
Anyway, my 1.5 cents worth (adjusted for inflation). Maybe it will be of use to someone here.
The red plate over the AE-35 unit might not be a permanent piece of the device, but an overlay used to isolate and identify test points. (then again, it might be permanently mounted but still serving the same purpose) But if it is a temporary overlay, it would explain why it is seen oriented both ways, possibly by accident, such as upside-down in the B&W Getty image. I think as a prop item it is meant to have the lettering right-side-up when facing the camera.
That aside, I have a possible interpretation of some of the text. At the top, it possibly reads
A.E. BORESIGHT ADV.
AE 35 MOD C
CONTROL UNIT
"Boresight" being the term used to aim a highly-directional antenna at a very distant receiver, which of course is what the AE-35 unit does. I'm not certain of the ADV, but it looks like that and could of course be short for "advanced"
At the bottom, it possibly reads
EQP. CHECK OUT
MOD. L.A. 375
But the last line really eludes me. The second line could also read "MOD. L.A. JPL" as a nod to the Jet Propulsion Lab. The "EQP. CHECK OUT" line is what suggests to me that this is an overlay used for testing the device and is removed before putting into service - "Equipment Check Out" (it could also be "EQT." but I think "EQP." is the more common abbreviation for "equipment")
The rest of the markings are likely just random stuff to supposedly represent circuit segments or test points, and good luck figuring out the numbers and letters. With one exception (or actually three): There are several dotted circles, three of which have 3 letters inside, two of which have holes with the letters as well. I suggest that C, B, and E are the three letters, which stand for the Collector, Base, and Emitter of transistors. In the 1960s, integrated circuits were nearly non-existent with transistors being the high-tech of the day, and they were commonly in small round packages with the three leads arranged in a triangle, such as the markings on this plate.
Oh, and my money would be on the font being Futura, which was extensively used by NASA at the time.
Anyway, my 1.5 cents worth (adjusted for inflation). Maybe it will be of use to someone here.
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joberg
Legendary Member
Aahz, first thing first: welcome aboard and I don't know how you did it but these explanations make sense!
You must have some kind of special microscope/glasses to discern all of that lettering I personally like it a lot (you worked well for your 1.5 cents). Now, if somebody could identify the other details on that plate
and I don't know how you did it but these explanations make sense!You must have some kind of special microscope/glasses to discern all of that lettering
I personally like it a lot (you worked well for your 1.5 cents). Now, if somebody could identify the other details on that plateHi, Joberg, and thanks for the welcome! I've been following several threads on this site on and off for a few years, but never actually joined. But when I saw this thread I thought perhaps I could contribute a bit.Aahz, first thing first: welcome aboard
You must have some kind of special microscope/glasses to discern all of that lettering
I actually have terrible eyesight
but am experienced with image manipulation and forensic analysis of photos and videos (not my job, just a hobby). I had hoped to get a little more out of this image, but that's the best I seem to be able to get - there's really not enough image info to resolve that last line any further. Now, if I had a handful of consecutive 4K images, I might be able to do some averaging and see if I can bring any more out of it.Funny thing, and I only mention it because it sort of applies to this topic (I don't want to hijack the thread), I had done some similar analysis on the Whirlpool food dispenser in the Aries 1 to see what they had on the menu. The list of actual food items is on the left of the dispenser, too far for me to make out with my Blu-Ray, but the list on the right consists largely of alcoholic beverages and a few soft drinks and mixers. After much image processing (and squinting) I was able to build out the entire drink selection and the keypad codes to order them!
I pretty much did the same thing to get the wording off of this test plate.
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I just had a really odd thought ... I wonder if it's possible the red plate is a real thing that was repurposed by the prop department and labeled with the AE-35 stuff at the top. I've found a couple of other hints on the "random" labels, such as "6.3v" and "DUAL B". 6.3 volts is not an accidental or random value - it is the voltage used for heater filaments of vacuum tubes in old radios and TVs and stuff. I would not expect the prop builders to use that number on purpose if they were going for something futuristic. Since it has labels for transistors also (and diodes - I saw two markings for diodes!), it could be something out of or meant for a transition-era (1950s) electronic device (high-power transistors came later - initially, tubes were used for high-power circuits such as amplifiers along with transistors for the low-power circuitry, so it would not be unheard of).
It might also explain the misalignment of the wording at the top - the original labeling may have been partly removed then Letraset was used to create the new label.
EDIT: I'm seeing the letters "MAN" in bottom line, followed by what seems to be 2 characters then 4 characters. Wonder if "MAN" is short for "Manufactured" and the 4 characters are a date ... it looks sort of like "1954" or "1956". Of course, it could be my imagination after staring at this for too long ...
Thoughts?
It might also explain the misalignment of the wording at the top - the original labeling may have been partly removed then Letraset was used to create the new label.
EDIT: I'm seeing the letters "MAN" in bottom line, followed by what seems to be 2 characters then 4 characters. Wonder if "MAN" is short for "Manufactured" and the 4 characters are a date ... it looks sort of like "1954" or "1956". Of course, it could be my imagination after staring at this for too long ...
Thoughts?
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OK, so here's a first stab at the entire thing. Again, the bottom line is elusive so I didn't complete it. Many of the numbers/letters are guesses, but based on the shape and intensity of the various "bloblets" I think many of them may be correct. The letters prefixing the numbers are more likely to be guesses than the numbers. Anyway, it's a start, and I'm certainly not married to it, so if anyone has better suggestions for the text please let me know and I'll update it (especially the bottom line).
