Very cool head!

Cool! I still need to find or make a backplate for my 12-8-8.

Oh and how are the other sections on the Durasig, you might be able to salvage a section or two from it.

The other two sections were in good condition. I am using one right now you can see it in this picture. The middle one was ruined in a wind storm so that's why they took the old one down.

I guess you can add it on to one of your signals to make a doghouse or make a Canadian style crosswalk signal with it. (Canadian crosswalk signals sometimes have round lenses).

You'd need the extra hardware to make a doghouse. you could make a really tall 5-section signal though.

The durasigs can't attach to the McCain because they are mounted differently, plus it would look tacky! Even on my indicator controls corp signal! It just won't match and would look weird. I would need two extra Indicator Controls Corp housings to do that, and I want to keep the McCain how it is. With the backplate and looking like this.

Even though the backplate doesn't exactly.. FIT on the McCain.. I mean it does but the holes are different and the top kind of bends a bit. Plus doesn't the backplate look.. a bit big for this signal?

Some backplates have a "knockout" on the top or bottom so it could fit signals that are plumbizer mounted instead of hanger mounted.

Would anyone be able to date this signal? If I have to take additional pictures I would. But I would like to know the date of this.

Hmm maybe Nick (basilicon89) would know?

Of course he will know. That's why I am asking him. xD

I wonder how he tells the dates though...

Actually McCains are hard to date because they essentially have looked the same since 1987 when McCain was founded. They just redesigned their signal bodies and removed the tried and true MTS logo with McCain's new corporate logo. My buddy snapped a shot of the new logos

I'd guess yours is probably from the late 1990s. Dates are sometimes easy to know (look for the date stamps, dials, any info molded into the signal) if you know when the models were produced you can get a date range. Looking at trade advertisements they are usually dated as well.

I saw a "98" on the top with numbers circled around it. And the arrow pointing up.

I think it is 98, could the arrow be pointing down and it says 86? I doubt that though.

That sounds like a date stamp dial. 98 is the year its made. The arrow points to one of the numbers circled around it. Thats the month. It is not 86...McCain was not established till late 1987.

I guess this signal was made in March 1998. The arrow points to the "3". Thanks for helping! Now time to find out the date of my indicator controls corp signal...

Two months older than I am.

How are these signals not finished properly? And what does that supposed to mean?

What do you mean?

Finishing is part of the production of the traffic signal head. The real issue is with their aluminum heads. Before its melted down in the dies...the aluminum used for making McCain lights are delivered to the McCain casting foundry in Mexico in block form its called "Type 360 aluminum" its very low grade and is very prone to early and aggressive corrosion. The aluminum can...and has been known to oxidized and crumble to the point the signals falls off the mount. This is worse in saltspray areas but i've seen one-season corrosion everywhere with McCains. The aluminum has to go through a chemical bath to charge the metal so that the powder that will bake onto it (and eventually become the paint). The low grade metal, and low quality chemicals make it a common site to see metal McCains fade and chip paint much easier. Their design is also known to bow back over the course of its service life. Quality is hit/miss with McCains. Polys are a little bit better, but don't go through a finishing process that polishes out the plastic, leaving the fiberous structure visible. More of an aesthetic issue then anything...but McCain cut corners to keep their price down.


Of course...most of this stuff doesnt apply to a McCain such as yours...in a collection. They will last forever in a controlled environment.

So that is why my signal is rough? That is what I figured. It's not bad though. xD I like the roughness.

I noticed that the green lens in yours is fully green unlike the glass lenses and the plastic Lexalite lens in mine.