I was looking at some pics on recordingconsoles.net , and it looks like the take-up reel is on the left-hand side of the machine. I thought they were usually on the right?
I wondered how the heck which was the takeup weel on a still image, but I now realize that you saw the empty takeup reel. And yes, this is because they are running the tape tails out.
Which also gives you the nice opportunity of doing a virgin flip.
