Florian Geyer - Frontkino

[Bill Medland]

What do you do with your group during the quiet winter months?

Projekt Frontkino (Frontline Cinema)

I recently purchased a 1935 Ditmar 16mm film projector and a selection of old films from the war period.
A sign is being made for our "Club House" and we will have private film evenings. So more pics to follow later.....









Some of the filmreels are too large for the current projector, but a larger projector is planed in a few months time.



Some films are in a smaller 25 minute version for home viewing



Heinz Sielmann (1917-2006) made hundreds of nature films and I already have three of them and they make great viewing
and fill the gap until I can obtain some more Wochenschau films.

Cheers, Bill.

[Botty]

Great idea. Is the projector equipped for sound?

[Bill Medland]

Great idea. Is the projector equipped for sound?

Hi Botty, this one is silent, but the one coming in two months time will be fitted with sound.

However I must say that the Ditmar 2860 featured here is dual guage ( 8mm and 16mm)
There were only about 7000 or so made before the war and most of these were destroyed
during the bombing or stolen by the occupation forces at the wars end, so there are not
many remaining in Germany, added to this, not all that remains will be in full working order.
So you get some idea of how rare this projector actually is. Original cost in 1935 was
440 Reichsmarks and wages were less than one Reichsmark per hour!

Cheers, Bill.

[Botty]

I would love a sound equipped one.

Got a pre-war Bolex triple gauge (8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm) silent one.

If you come across any films you want don't want then drop me a PM. I would really like to do a Frontkino at an event some time in the future.

[berlin1945]

Myself and two others have been manufacturing Panzershrecks and 81 mm Mortars just finished spraying two Panzershrecks tonight well hopefully that is as need the paint to set, the difficult part was the making of the Shields which were very tricky indeed but rest was straight forward to do also milled some Panzer Faust launchers made two of these and they need to be sprayed ie wooden heads and metal tubing quite easy as mate Dessie owns a welding business and Charlie has a wood lathe and just pressed in the settings to a computer which did the work for us.

Would love to make a Lewis gun if any one has the dimensions but when I go abroad to England I will search out WW1 groups and ask permission to determine the dimensions that I require as would like to make one, currently redoing the furniture on 2 G98's and a Lee Enfield 1919, So my winter months are quite filled up at present.

[Bill Medland]

Botty,

Perhaps we should work together on this project, even if it is only exchanging information and ideas?

Cheers, Bill.

[wolfsangel]

If you have the ability to repair 16mm film I have some footage of the 1936 olympics that needs putting back together I think it jammed in the projector and melted but not 100%,

I also have a Bauer 16mm projector and an agfa 8mm/16mm projector which I have never taken out of the box as it looks like it would be a one way trip!

[Botty]

Snapped film I can repair, anything worse than that is beyond my skill.

[Bill Medland]

The film needs to be wiped with a cleaner material on a rag during re-winding, otherwise it becomes brittle
and is liable to snap in the projector. This is mostly true with original wartime film as the production standards
were not so high, with it being wartime and the raw materials harder to obtain.

Viewing films at slower speeds helps reduce damage too.

Most post-war projectors had an automatic feed system, you started the motor and the film would be pointed
in the right direction and the the film would be draged through automatic, quick and easy.
However, most pre-war projectors (mine is from 1935) every thing has to be laid on the runners and rollers
by hand and the loops top and bottom have to be judged. I let the film settle for about 10 seconds during
the start of the run before completly closing the film gate, this allows the film to find its own position first
and this also helps reduce films snapping.

Cheers, Bill.

[Bill Medland]

If you have the ability to repair 16mm film I have some footage of the 1936 olympics that needs putting back together I think it jammed in the projector and melted but not 100%,

I also have a Bauer 16mm projector and an agfa 8mm/16mm projector which I have never taken out of the box as it looks like it would be a one way trip!

Is the Bauer a P7 or P8? as this would probably be a projector with sound.
The Agfa Projector would probably be silent and the 8mm would probably be Standard 8mm.

Anyway, PM sent. Cheers, Bill.