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Hi
Have included a picture of a Rol-A-Top that appears to have one of the reel stop levers missing, I can only see 2 in the picture but I believed there were 3??? Maybe Watling made different variations that you could clue me in, or maybe the 3rd one is hidden from view?

Also, another novice question. Was there a particular paint design on the side panels depending on the model or year, or did Watling just paint depending on mood!!!! You'll see in the picture this has black paint stripes at the front and rear of the cabinet wood panels, but I've also seen wood panels without any black painting, and some even have the black paint going around the edges all around.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Nothing is missing, this machine is 100% correct. The first reel stop finger has been moved to the right hand side of the mech. You can see it if you follow the flat bar which is in front of the main operating arm, all the way to the right. Watling machines could not be bugged very easily because of the way the fingers stopped the reels. The most common way was to put weights which would clamp onto the reel tins. These weights were usually clamped behind a jack pot bar.
On the Rol-A-Tors and cast in horn Rol-A-Tops, it was very common to have a percentage wheel on the first reel. This was a star wheel with threaded holes for a bug to be added. Watling even marked the jack pot spots for you. These percentage wheels were on later removeable horn Rol-A-Tops but not very common on the later machines, most appeared on the early ones.

Cases, No they were not painted in various ways, only one way. The picture of the case in your photo is correct and this is the only way the grooved cases were ever done. Any other way is wrong. The bottom of the inside of the case is not painted and left natural. The exception is the plywood case, the inside bottom has some black sprayed on it. The early pin routed cases, the center is natural and the outside edges and base were black. Watling never waivered from these two painting schemes.

Watlingboy

Thank you so much for the detailed information regarding the "missing" or in this case not missing lever. Would never have guessed Watling made such a dramatic change to the mech as I have the 1st edition of the Watling Owners Pictorial Guide and it does not mention this at all!!! Glad you cleared up the painting issue too. thank you

Anyone know why the early Watling mechanism never appeared in the Pictorial Guide book? In the Mills and Jennings and Pace books, there was always mention of alternative mech designs, early or later, either in the main part of the books or the appendix. I'm just curious why the writers never even mentioned anything about such a obvious design difference with the early 2 reel stop fingers and the other at the far right! I have the original 1st edition, and have read it from cover to cover (I know that's sad!!!), and still find it hard to believe they never mentioned it.

It's ok, I'm not losing sleep over it, but wondered if anyone can throw some light on to this oversight...

Thanks

They might not even have been aware of it. Neither one was a student of Watling. They just had a basic mechanical ability. They just wanted to get some basic information out there. That percentage wheel on the first reel was mainly on machines made in 1935, '36 and '37. After that, the percentage wheels show up on Rol-A-Tops but very infrequently. Been awhile since I looked at that book but it probably makes no mention that the early Rol-A-Tors have no coin reject button but the early ones had the front of the escalator open up with each pull to clear a bent coin or jam. Watling throughout the entire production continued to make many changes to the mechs, also changing the cabinet, handle, reel strips, etc. I think their idea was to go with the most common example and just concentrate on that.

Watlingboy

Thanks for the wealth of information you share. always enjoy reading your watling related posts.