# London calling



## Pete W (Nov 12, 2016)

Hello!

I am a lapsed audio visual performer based in London, re emerging after six years out bringing up kids! I am exploring wonderful world of multi media projections again! I sense there is a lot of experience in here, looking forward to learning and sharing anything useful i have picked up along the way. Slide projection is currently my interest and i am re-imaging multi projector programming in my own slightly mixed up way with lots of vintage gear.


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 12, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Hello!
> 
> I am a lapsed audio visual performer based in London, re emerging after six years out bringing up kids! I am exploring wonderful world of multi media projections again! I sense there is a lot of experience in here, looking forward to learning and sharing anything useful i have picked up along the way. Slide projection is currently my interest and i am re-imaging multi projector programming in my own slightly mixed up way with lots of vintage gear.


Welcome to CB and are you speaking of 2" x 2" slides or something larger? I still have a collection of ten Kodak Carousels along with at least 32 lenses including Navatar and Tamron 1" and Buhl 1.4" along with a pair of AVL Coyote 3 projector dissolves. A stroke ruined my vision before I progressed into the 'dark side' of video projection.
Should I assume your "London" is in the U.K.? I spent a month loading the inaugural British production of the rock musical 'Tommy' into your Shaftesbury back in 1996.
I'm writing from one of the colonies known as Canada.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard


----------



## Pete W (Nov 12, 2016)

Hello Ron!
I am in London U.K. I love Canada! My wife's family live in Toronto and i get to go there every other year. 
Yes 2"x2" slides. Funnily just picked up a Coyote and am getting my head round it. I use Kodak S-AV series projectors (very old school) as i can't afford the Ektapro's!


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 12, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Hello Ron!
> I am in London U.K. I love Canada! My wife's family live in Toronto and i get to go there every other year.
> Yes 2"x2" slides. Funnily just picked up a Coyote and am getting my head round it. I use Kodak S-AV series projectors (very old school) as i can't afford the Ektapro's!


"Tommy" had 54 Ektagraphics back stage as a matrix of three triple stacks (9) high by six wide totaling 54 plus two more out on a lower balcony rail along with six more serious Pani projectors centred on the balcony rail dissolving their way through stacks of approximately 6" x 6" glass slides which had to be manually re-stacked and reloaded between performances. I was the head LX and automation LX with a Canadian shop which built all of the scenery and automation for "Tommy" in Offenbach / Frankfurt am Maine in 1995 and then in London's Shaftesbury a year later in 1996. "Tommy" was a good time for me. You certainly have a large variety of differing accents amongst sixty or so stage hands arriving daily from as far as fifty miles out from London. One of my favourite memories was watching the 'oh so proper English' BBC news using sub-titles so folks could understand a fast talking, and very annoyed, mayor of some British city speaking as part of a news clip. Subtitles for a British citizen speaking English on the 'Oh so British' BBC. I still giggle at the memory. Thanks for posting Pete.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------



## Pete W (Nov 12, 2016)

Ron
Where are you in the photo?! That's such an amazing story! Do you have photos from the show? Can I email interview you about it?
Cheers
Pete


----------



## Pete W (Nov 12, 2016)

Hey Ron,
Sorry for the confusing last message, i thought you were replying to a question i'd posted about a photo on a post (that i now see was made by derekleffew not you!).

...on this thread https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/avl.30491/
i asked who was in the photo with the room full of projectors! I thought that was the Tommy set-up!

Cheers
Pete


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 12, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Ron
> Where are you in the photo?! That's such an amazing story! Do you have photos from the show? Can I email interview you about it?
> Cheers
> Pete


Hi Pete; I don't recall myself being in any photos. I believe our shop had many photos of the build and the insides of the 8 large shipping containers we sent each production over in but that's all so long ago now. Many U.S. citizens were involved with the show and its load-in / rehearsals / previews. A U.S. Federal building was bombed while we were in Germany leaving several of the U.S. folks torn between wanting to be back home vs. yet not wanting to be near any bombings. It was odd to realize the Who's "Tommy" had originally come together in LaJolla California, then toured the U.S. to Broadway's St. James Theatre, then simultaneously spawned a U.S tour then a second U.S. Canadian tour before being produced by a German rock promoter as a closely controlled production totally guided by the original U.S. director, producers, tech producer, lighting, sound and projection designers before finally (in Pete Townsend's mind) "coming home" to your West End's Shaftesbury. Not that Pete and I were buddies by any stretch but he was like a kid with a new toy when his baby finally opened in London. Please feel free to ask me anything you like about any electrical and automation aspects of either production as, post my vision destroying stroke and recent silent heart attack, all I have left these days are my memories. Andrew Lloyd Webber's sister-in-law was in the cast in Offenbach / Frankfurt am Maine.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 12, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Hey Ron,
> Sorry for the confusing last message, i thought you were replying to a question i'd posted about a photo on a post (that i now see was made by derekleffew not you!).
> 
> ...on this thread https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/avl.30491/
> ...


Hi Pete; Apparently, if you dug down far enough, the projectors were for the introduction of Ford automotive's new model year at the annual Detroit auto show one year in Michigan.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------



## Pete W (Nov 13, 2016)

Ron,

Guess you have seen this

http://www.wendallharrington.com/gallery/theatre/

It must have looked incredible! 
i bow down very deeply to you sir!


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 13, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Ron,
> 
> Guess you have seen this
> 
> ...


Thanks Pete! I hadn't seen your link actually but there were a great many visual moments in Tommy and I got to see them live a goodly number of times. Most of my dealings, once in the theatres, were with technical production manager Gene O'Donovan and Gene's mate was Lynda Batwin of Batwin and Robin who were the king-pins supplying and supervising all of the projected imagery. When the bomber was projected, its two revolving props were real, flown in, pieces and, from memory, the blades were about 12' in diameter, designed to look spectacular while rotating fairly slowly in front of the projected imagery while moving as little air as possible due to very tight fly-space clearances.
I'm most definitely no one to be bowed down to, just a guy who was fortunate to be in the right places at the right times. I'm Ron to everyone and definitely NEVER Sir. Again, ask me anything about the electrical and automation aspects of either the German or British productions. I've only peripheral knowledge of the scenic projection and I MOST DEFINITELY had nothing to do with creating any of the slides themselves. For the era, having 54 projectors configured as 18 stacks of 3 rear projecting onto one large RP screen as anything from 1 large, to 18 small, images was pretty impressive and, when dissolving through slides at its maximum rate, practically capable of motion. From memory, I believe the Frankfurt production was accomplished with RP lenses that were standard products but I believe the producers had Zeiss create 54 custom short throw lenses with keystone correction to work within the even tighter throw distances of the London production in your Shaftesbury. I met a lot of really skilled British stage hands doing "Tommy". One thing I still remember that surprised me when we got to England: In North America we're used to having 3 phase stage dimmer racks housing dimmers of all three phases within a single rack. I was totally surprised to find the Shaftesbury's dimmers were segregated by phase with one rack / phase powering all FOH circuits, another supplying all stage floor level circuits and the last rack supplying all flown circuits with the goal being to minimize the possibilities of phase to phase shocks. When we showed up wanting dimmers of all three phases in each of our six, automated, floor tracks the British production electrician was taken totally aback. He also wasn't familiar with the concept of using dual redundant incandescent dummy loads on dimmers driving transformer coupled loads and / neon. Basically London was an excellent experience after dealing with TUV for Frankfurt.
Sorry! I blather too much. Ask me anything about any of the electrical and automation aspects of either production. Our automation software was controlling 24 axis of accurately position-able AC servo drives along with the two rotating propellers and the house curtain drive.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------



## Pete W (Nov 17, 2016)

Dear Ron,

Your last post reminded me of an issue I haven't been able to solve, not sure if they are connected?
I found and AVL coyote for sale in Italy in eBay. In the photo noticed that the Projector plugs had a small box attached and the 12 in adator I need to connect to my ancient Kodak s-av 2050 projectors. I bought it and all is good, however now I'd like to get another from the States and they on come with the standard US smaller (7pin) Ektapro connectors. My question is, what do you think that box does on the connector of the one I have and would I have issues converting US coyotes without the mystery box?
Spotted a reference to these 'adaptors' in the user guide (see attached image)
What do you reckon and thanks for your thoughts!


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 17, 2016)

Well Pete, the short answer is: I don't know. Thinking about it: Is the box only required to house the connector, cover otherwise exposed live contacts and provide a strain relief? The reason AVL wants all three projectors and the Coyote all powered from the same source is because the power for each projector's lamp is sourced via the respective projector's power cord. When the projector's power switch is in a position where the projector's fan / drive motor is running but its lamp is off, power is sent from the projector's power cord, through the dissolve connector, controlled by electronics within the Coyote then routed back to the projector's lamp via the dissolve connector. The neutral and ground / earth connections for each projector's lamp are directly from the specific projector's power cord and are not routed out to the Coyote. The Coyote develops its frequency and phase angle reference from its own power cord hence all of the power cords need to come from the same source to maintain relative timing accuracy. My memory may be playing tricks on me but I'm recalling the Buhl Hi-Lites as each using up to 1200 Watt lamps operating, in North America, from 120 volts and thus consuming approximately 10 Amps each. When you consider this, you can see why AVL chose not to power all of the projector's lamps from the Coyote's mains cord. Is it possible for you to safely look inside your "mystery box", when it's not powered, and learn what it may contain in addition to simply serving as a 'back box / safe enclosure' for the connector?
With apologies for being of so little help.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------



## Pete W (Nov 23, 2016)

RonHebbard said:


> Well Pete, the short answer is: I don't know. Thinking about it: Is the box only required to house the connector, cover otherwise exposed live contacts and provide a strain relief? The reason AVL wants all three projectors and the Coyote all powered from the same source is because the power for each projector's lamp is sourced via the respective projector's power cord. When the projector's power switch is in a position where the projector's fan / drive motor is running but its lamp is off, power is sent from the projector's power cord, through the dissolve connector, controlled by electronics within the Coyote then routed back to the projector's lamp via the dissolve connector. The neutral and ground / earth connections for each projector's lamp are directly from the specific projector's power cord and are not routed out to the Coyote. The Coyote develops its frequency and phase angle reference from its own power cord hence all of the power cords need to come from the same source to maintain relative timing accuracy. My memory may be playing tricks on me but I'm recalling the Buhl Hi-Lites as each using up to 1200 Watt lamps operating, in North America, from 120 volts and thus consuming approximately 10 Amps each. When you consider this, you can see why AVL chose not to power all of the projector's lamps from the Coyote's mains cord. Is it possible for you to safely look inside your "mystery box", when it's not powered, and learn what it may contain in addition to simply serving as a 'back box / safe enclosure' for the connector?
> With apologies for being of so little help.
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard.


Thanks for your thoughts Ron, had a peak, looks like it is more than just a housing for the connector, i will try and identify the components


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 23, 2016)

Pete W said:


> Thanks for your thoughts Ron, had a peak, looks like it is more than just a housing for the connector, i will try and identify the components


Here in Canada / U.S. / North America, we'd have powered three 1200 Watt Buhl Hi-Lites from three different 15 or 20 Amp breakers on the same phase leg of a given panel and powered the Coyote from the same phase leg as well to keep the Coyote's phase angle / timing sensor in synch with the Hi-Lite's lamp power.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


----------

