Oscilloscope used in Thunderbirds Episode

[xrunner]

Excellent forensic work 

Some quick Adam West:

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" LOL! 

[tautech]

Here's 'Cinema' from ~2011 showing what looks like a Tek 541

[Martin.M]

A post in the repair board spurred my memory about an episode of the old Thunderbirds Supermarionation show. In an episode they use some real oscilloscopes, and it appears that they might be Telequipment models (see screenshot). Anyone agree?

Banana post inputs, yes maybe a very early Telequipment.

After small search: Serviscope S51E......or similar.

you are right 
S51B is not, the screen bezel is different.

[Martin.M]

Here's 'Cinema' from ~2011 showing what looks like a Tek 541

the scope in the film is a 535 (no A) or 545 (no A)  why?  2 time bases and vertical +-3 graticules.

greetings
Martin

[TimFox]

I remember seeing a British sci-fi movie, but can't recall the title.
It involved a planet sharing Earth's orbit, but diametrically opposed to Earth so we can't see it through the sun.
Astronauts were sent to investigate it, but returned early (about half the scheduled time), and were interrogated for dereliction of duty.
I quickly understood the problem, however, since back in the lab the Tektronix 540-series oscilloscopes had the CRT in the upper right hand corner of the front panel.
Obviously, parity was reversed on the two planets.
Does anyone recall the movie's title?

[chris_leyson]

Doppelgänger or outside europe 'Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun'. A classic .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger_(1969_film)

[Martin.M]

SciFi Movie oh yes ..
I remember one film where the spaceman is communicating to the earth by watching and speaking in a Tek 422

[VK3DRB]

In the classic Aussie movie "The Dish", there is an oscilloscope here that I doubt existed in July 1969 (see 1:58 below), but the props used elsewhere had nixie tubes in them. There are scenes in the movie where indicators flash on and off with a very high intensity slew rate - these would have been LEDs, not incandescent globes. But there were no LEDs used in test equipment back in 1969! In any case the producers did a good job.



I have seen the movie 11 times. There is a serious bug in it - the shadow of the boom mic that moves over the station wagon car as the woman was delivering lunch to the engineers at the Parkes radio telescope.

For those interested, here is a great article that sorts fact from fiction in the movie. I don't know about the bit about the Yanks leaving equipment here because it was too heavy. Much of the equipment came from a company in Melbourne called Macservice, which is now called TMG Test Equipment.

https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/visiting/parkes/looselybased.html

[xrunner]

Here's a scope I found in an episode of Space 1999. They tried to disguise it with a template. What model?

[tautech]

For those that like this stuff, another previous thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/movie-scopes-(and-other-tm-props)/

[Cyberdragon]

indicators flash on and off with a very high intensity slew rate

neons then

[vk6zgo]

In the classic Aussie movie "The Dish", there is an oscilloscope here that I doubt existed in July 1969 (see 1:58 below),

Sorry, I can't see anything at 1:58, except the side view of a viewing hood on some invisible piece of gear, & Sam Neil!

but the props used elsewhere had nixie tubes in them. There are scenes in the movie where indicators flash on and off with a very high intensity slew rate - these would have been LEDs, not incandescent globes. But there were no LEDs used in test equipment back in 1969!

Actually, there were, but they certainly weren't high intensity.
Tektronix etc, stuck with incandescents for that reason.

In any case the producers did a good job.



I have seen the movie 11 times. There is a serious bug in it - the shadow of the boom mic that moves over the station wagon car as the woman was delivering lunch to the engineers at the Parkes radio telescope.

For those interested, here is a great article that sorts fact from fiction in the movie. I don't know about the bit about the Yanks leaving equipment here because it was too heavy. Much of the equipment came from a company in Melbourne called Macservice, which is now called TMG Test Equipment.

https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/visiting/parkes/looselybased.html

[LapTop006]

https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/visiting/parkes/looselybased.html

An old friend of mine (who went on to work at an optical telescope) actually has a photo of him standing at the crease for a quick round of cricket at the dish.

One thing not mentioned on that link, but IIRC is in the DVD commentary is that a few bits & pieces of the equipment they got for the set still had NASA asset tags on them.

[peteb2]

Of all the things to be asked to see if i can fix it up... 

On a day before Christmas and a bit of spare time i had a look.

It's the "Thunderbirds series" prop Telequipment S51B but with an amber filtered CRT  absolutely terrible condition. Thing is though i could use a single channel CRT 'scope myself but the owner is really hopeful it will go again.

Then i opened the unit only to discover somebody has nicked off with all its vacuum tubes (valves) except the disconnected CRT which is floating around in there.

I guess the real truth is as it stands it's a dead duck. It uses 1x ECF80 and 6x ECC88 which though obtainable will cost a pretty penny. I have zero idea if the CRT is viable and worse, the rusty as power transformer and that's before even considering bad caps.

Plainly someone has visited it in the distant past and now i need to tell the old owner (and hope like crazy he doesn't think i've stolen all the tubes)...

[tautech]

Pete, I have some tubes .....maybe some of the correct ones and you’re welcome to any I have.....on my return to NZ in a couple of weeks.

[Circlotron]

There were some technical savvy people writing/working for that series. In that episode a direction is given to Zero X "transmit an unmodulated carrier wave ...". Whoever wrote that knew something about radio and technology.

In contrast, just last night was watching season 3 episode 10 of Lost in Space (60's TV version) where people start disappearing from the J2 and John Robinson's solution it to "reverse the polarity of the oscillator"... 

[peteb2]

Probably a flogging of a very dead creature ... but then again i always love a challenge. 

The CRT target isn't burned at least and still intact.

Have a gander at the state of things:

[tautech]

Nuthing a good dusting wouldn’t fix ! 

[xrunner]

In contrast, just last night was watching season 3 episode 10 of Lost in Space (60's TV version) where people start disappearing from the J2 and John Robinson's solution it to "reverse the polarity of the oscillator"... 

A little artistic license application ... 

[VK5RC]

Probably a flogging of a very dead creature ... but then again i always love a challenge. 

The CRT target isn't burned at least and still intact.

Have a gander at the state of things:

I have quite a few cro tubes spare, let me know if you know the part numbers, I can test them as well.
Check transformer for leaks and the power filter caps for esr, value etc

[SeanB]

Transformer doesn't look too bad, and will clean up well. Just pop it, after removing from the chassis, and a good going over with a stiff nylon brush to remove dust and loose rust, into an oven at 105C for 6 hours to dry it out, then when at 40C again spray with a few coats of clear lacquer to provide some waterproofing for it and keep it dry. Then you can use a dim bulb tester to see if it has survived.

You will just have to be careful of that SRBP, it might need the same bake treatment as well, but at least there you will be replacing pretty much every capacitor anyway, and every resistor that is over 10k as well, using at a minimum 1W metal film, as they are about the same size, can withstand the high voltage and will not drift high in value like the carbon composition ones. Valve bases will survive the oven no problem, even if they are plastic they need to survive being toasted by the heaters anyway.  Have fun with cracked traces, and careful of them pulling off, that Paxolin board is famous for lifting with heat.

[Cyberdragon]

You can get 6DJ8s for $10-15 in the right places. Price varies wildly based on brand, all the way up to $500 audiophool crap. 6BL8 is cheaper, about $7.

[peteb2]

A tiny update: I  completely dusted down, vacuumed and then disconnected all leads off the transformer.
Using my Agilent U1461A insulation meter (which i bought on a mad whim one day)  I  ran a few combination DAR (dielectric absorption ratio) & PI (polarization index) tests for the primary to secondary and from these to frame only up to 250V for now and the results looked fine with a peak to 780Mohm (i have other random fairly new transformers that do 0.57GigOhm). I then brought the primary up on a current limited variac very slowly and measured the outputs (except the 980V and 1270V while these windings have continuity) and they're all present. I need another meter be able to read those kind of potentials. So the transformer is a goer but as SeanB says... it needs to be given some TLC.

This spurred me to the filthy CRT. After a very careful clean i chose to remove the mumetal cover to reveal its details, a Brimar SE5FP7,  make date of 1971.

Close inspection and all appeared fine, with no rattles etc that is until i saw the condition of the two Getters which being as i am a 'tube' guy worries me. I think the CRT has been leaking its vacuum. The storage location it sat for decades wouldn't help as it was in a loft for YEARS, not even inside a carton. Summer months daytime temps would have been scream'n hot. Winter probably below zeroC some mornings.

I'm now at a crossroads again. I'd like to hunt down a good CRT assuming this one is stuffed and i have seen a couple S51B 'scopes go on ebay but shipping to NZ is waaay up there. Depends how far your hobby goes i guess.

It's an hour to go from the New Year 2019 for me here in NZ so i should go watch the big midnight event on Stream TV before hitting the sack!

[Cyberdragon]

If the tube was leaking, there'd be no silver left by now, unless it's a very recent seep. That just looks like normal flash pattern. Just keep an eye on it. Draw a circle around the silver part, and if it ever shrinks it's broken.

EDIT: The white edges indicate excessive heat or internal outgassing, but as long as the tube tests good and doesn't worsen it should be fine.

[calexanian]

We had one of those DuMonts running as a peak emission indicator in a test rig up until about 4 years ago when I swapped it out for a Rigol. It still had a good trace.