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Author Topic: 16mm Victor Animatophone Model 60 Projector Richard Thomas Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Trinidad, CO Registered: Aug 2003 posted 11-12-2003 04:32 PM                     Can anyone who knows old Victors tell me if this Model 60 has a tube or solid state audio system? Any other info on this old guy will help: anyone know how well it handles film, especially shrinkage?  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 11-12-2003 05:34 PM                     Tube. The pull-down shuttle is two pin so missing perforations may jump....no worse than a Kodak Pagent. film trip levers maybe too sensitive for some people. The sound scanner area is a curved gate which the film glides across prior to the sound damping flywheel; this should be kept clean.  |  IP: Logged John Anastasio Master Film Handler Posts: 325 From: Trenton, NJ, USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-12-2003 05:34 PM                        Despite their strange looking film path, the animatophones were excellent film handlers. One of the things I liked about them was the automatic cutout, which shut the transport mechanism totally down if a loop was lost. You had to really work at damaging a film with one of them. I could be wrong, but I think that all of them had tube amps.  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-12-2003 06:12 PM                     Jump on over to www.film-center.com and buy the "Equipment Manuals" cd rom. All Victors and Kalart-Victors thread the same and there is the threading diagrams on the cd rom. If you need the service manual, I have an excellent original one covering the models 40 thru 60. It's very detailed and has schematics for the amplifiers (they are all tubes). The service manual runs around 140 pages!  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 11-12-2003 06:50 PM                     I've got 6 Victors. 40's thru 70-25. All are good film handlers, and YES, you gotta keep the sound optics spotless. Fine machines!  |  IP: Logged Richard Thomas Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Trinidad, CO Registered: Aug 2003 posted 11-12-2003 08:07 PM                     Thank you very much for the replies. I really appreciate the information. I have a great film collection under restoration and the usual Eiki's but no Victor. So now I have been offered one finally 50 years later and now thanks to you understand it is a great machine. Perfect! Ken, I would love to buy your service manual as the machine may need re-capping, and loving care. And Bruce I know you are a collector like I am and when you say you like them I do understand what that means. Thanks all! RL [ 11-12-2003, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: Richard Thomas ]  |  IP: Logged Webster Colcord Film Handler Posts: 23 From: Alameda, California Registered: Oct 2003 posted 11-13-2003 03:45 PM                        While you're on the subject of 16mm projectors, I have always been a fan of the Kodak Pageant and I just recently purchased one with a Gemini Arc lamp. The lamps are still being made, so I thought it might be better to purchase this one than a projector that uses the Marc 300. Has anyone had any negative/ positive experience with this projector/ lamp combination?  |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-13-2003 07:27 PM                     The Pageants are nice machines. I am also a big fan of the Victor. The loop failsafes are a great thing, especially when running an older, rougher print. My favorite 16mm machine in my own collection is a Victor with a cute little carbon arc lamphouse. I'll try to get around to taking some pics to post.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-17-2003 08:36 AM                     Having had any number of "vintage" 16mm projectors through the years I can happily trade nostalgia for a xenon Eiki, but I have to say that compared to the Pageants, Victors, B&H's, and DeVry's, I have always felt that the standout older machine was the RCA 400. In terms of gentleness, easy threading, wide open construction, and great sound they were tops. Anyone who's tried to work on a Pageant would shoot themselves if they saw how easily the RCA's come apart for service.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 11-17-2003 08:32 PM                     The RCA 400's ROCK! I've got 3 of them. The oldest one was built in 1946, and was bought for $25 about 15 years ago. A single capacitor was replaced in the amp. It's been running film for me ever since. I got my first Victor 40 as a gift in 1999. I grew up seeing ads for them in the National Geographic Magazines that my grandparents had. After a few hours of maintenance, the 40 was running film. I guess I was hooked after that. My Favorite Victor is my 70-15 from 1961-62. It was gotten on eBay to be a parts machine. The seller said that it didn't run other than the motor spinning. No problem. In shipping, it got dropped and the reel arms were destroyed along with all of the tubes. I sat it on the shelf for parts. Then: I got some reel arms. All of the tubes were in my junk boxes. As it sits, it is the most quiet running of all of my 16mm machines. Now, my other 70 could be parts... I just KNEW the Animatophone had to be a fine machine. I noticed them in the 'Geographic,' and figured that anything with a threading path that threads sound first can't be all bad! I use this machine as part of a pair of 70's that I rent out now and then. The other 70 has a brush-type motor and runs with more noise. Also have a pair of 40's, and a pair of 65-10's from 1956. OMG: I have 7 machines! I forgot the model 55 that shocked the P**S out of me when I initially plugged it in! It looks almost brand new. Need to rebuild its amp, though. (Damned capacitors!)  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 11-17-2003 10:06 PM                     The RCA-400 in my opinion was one of the best!  |  IP: Logged Jon Miller Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 973 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-17-2003 11:45 PM                     Of the Kalart-Victor 70-series models produced from the late 1950s (?) to the early 1980s (!), my favorite has to be the late-model units with the induction motor. I have a few in my collection that have to be the quietest-running projectors ever designed, even quieter than the RCA 400 (and I have a 416R to compare the Victors against...the 416R is by far the least noisy of any projector of its vintage). I've always felt the threading pattern of the Victor was a good test of your A-V acumen...if you could thread a Victor properly, you could thread anything. (...well, any 16mm projector, that is.) I've seen more than my share of people get stumped trying to thread a Victor without any formal instruction, and I've bailed out a few teachers in my high-school days. Bill C., is the carbon-arc Victor you mentioned one of these?: [Edit...Woo-hoo! 250th post! I've reached the "Master Film Handler" level now! ]  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-18-2003 08:08 AM                     au contraire, the 416R (which was a rare bird with the reversing capability) was generally noisier than the earlier 400's as it had the oil soaked metal drive gears vs. the early 400's with the fibre ones(which I have found to be virtually indestructable). The 416 also has what I think is an inferior amp with the 6973 ouptputs and the voltage doubler power supply vs. the 400's with 6V6 outputs and a massivbe piece of iron in the power supply. BTW: Those early 400 amps make dandy guitar amps with some tweaking!  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-18-2003 09:24 AM                     Thats a neat projector there Jon One day I hope to find a RCA Porta Arc.  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-18-2003 10:06 AM                     Sam: That should be "Porto Arc".  |  IP: Logged

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