Deardorf

[Jonathan Barlow]

I have one of the military V8's made for the Air Force in 1952. The finish is original and shows few signs of use. I've read that there were 300 made, but Ken, you mentioned the number 250?

[TheDeardorffGuy]

I have one of the military V8's made for the Air Force in 1952. The finish is original and shows few signs of use. I've read that there were 300 made, but Ken, you mentioned the number 250?

As a single group under one purchase order there were 247. These has 6x6 Eastman boards and the new bedplate, Sand cast and crude. Then over the next 2 years there were about 50 more built with an Eastman style 6x6 board. These too went to military bases. My feeling is that after the initial 247 cameras they needed more and ordered them a few at a time directly from the bases.

[Jonathan Barlow]

As a single group under one purchase order there were 247. These has 6x6 Eastman boards and the new bedplate, Sand cast and crude. Then over the next 2 years there were about 50 more built with an Eastman style 6x6 board. These too went to military bases. My feeling is that after the initial 247 cameras they needed more and ordered them a few at a time directly from the bases.

Yes, it uses square-cornered 6x6 lens boards and has the small metal ID plate with AF order no. It has the sand cast aluminum bedplate, but it isn't crudely cast. It looks quite crisp.

[E. von Hoegh]

Ya but the club seems to be "The 500-599 Club". Limited membership I suppose .

We'll call ourselves the "No Baseplate Elite".

[E. von Hoegh]

Yes, it uses square-cornered 6x6 lens boards and has the small metal ID plate with AF order no. It has the sand cast aluminum bedplate, but it isn't crudely cast. It looks quite crisp.

Really good sandcasting is becoming a lost art. Look at some old firebacks, or even old skillets, like Griswolds, and any old iron stove. All sandcast, and the quality could be superb.

[John Kasaian]

We'll call ourselves the "No Baseplate Elite".

That sounds better than "The Cracking Bottoms" LOL!

[Louis Pacilla]

We'll call ourselves the "No Baseplate Elite".

Kind of like the " Badges, We don't need no stinking badges" Club. Or as the case seems to be "Base plates, We don't need no stinking base plates".

I like John's the best.That's funny. "Cracking Bottoms" it is.

[E. von Hoegh]

And we can have t-shirts made that say "My other camera is a Deardorff, too"

[E. von Hoegh]

Kind of like the " Badges, We don't need no stinking badges" Club.

I like John's the best.That's funny. "Cracking Bottoms" it is.

Actually, mine still has the four rubber feet on the corners. No separation of the glue joints in the base yet, either.

[TheDeardorffGuy]

Actually, mine still has the four rubber feet on the corners. No separation of the glue joints in the base yet, either.

I've got a good theroy on that. Since these cameras were Old style NFS cameras with FS added. The beds seem to be old. I think the beds date from 48. The sales of NFS V8s in the late 40s really fell and FS added versility. I think they had a stock and used them. The glue joints were were cut into well aged pieces that had done as much shrinkage as they could and therefore did not shrink anymore..