RCA 8t was on my list to restore so over the coarse of a week I managed to complete this radio although after playing for a while I think I need to rebuild the volume control or replace it , but other than that I think it turned out nice, I like to find a 10t which I think is the grand Daddy of these model cabinets line up. Payed 75$ for this one off Craig's list, cleaned up pretty nice.
Before pictures of RCA 8T
Beautiful Fred. Very nice work indeed.
(07-05-2015, 08:45 AM)Fred Taylor Wrote: [ -> ]RCA 8t was on my list to restore so over the coarse of a week I managed to complete this radio although after playing for a while I think I need to rebuild the volume control or replace it , but other than that I think it turned out nice, I like to find a 10t which I think is the grand Daddy of these model cabinets line up. Payed 75$ for this one off Craig's list, cleaned up pretty nice.
Forgot inside pics
Your usual great job Fred. VERY nice.
Jerry
That's a beautiful job. I have a question about the dial bezel: Would it be a bright brass like that originally? Most of the 30's radios I have are dark brass now, almost black, but then they're about 80 years old. How did they start life? One of my Z tombstones appears in a couple of 30's movies, including a Bob Hope movie. I always forget to note if the bezel is shiny or dark in that 1941 movie. Again, that's a really nice radio!
I don't like it polished up like that, I was told that this model RCA was highly polished, is how they were when new. Im going research it more and may change it if need be.
One of the first radios I ever owned, about 100 years ago, was an RCA 5T1 -a smaller version of this set. To this day I am still amazed at how sensitive that five-tube tombstone was. I can only imagine what an 8-toober must be like.
As to whether the escutcheon was shiny or not - ask Doug Houston, he would probably know.
I would shoot the bezel with a light coat of Van dyke Brown toner. Take some of the glow off.
I believe that this chassis is shared with the 8K and with the Canadian G.E E-8/E-86, as well as the 7T and 7K which are the same except for the lack of a Magic Eye tube. One thing I can see straight away is that the chassis is missing the two filter capacitor cans, one was mounted on the right from corner, the other on the left rear corner. Also the IF can towards the left front of the chassis is a replacement, the original looked like the one closer towards the left rear with a pair of tunable slugs, top and bottom, rather then trimmer caps in the top as the replacement has. The speaker and it's cable are also replacements, RCA did not use Utah speakers, and their speakers also had a four pin Bakelite plug mounted to the rear with a matching socket on the end of the speaker cable like a 1940s Philco would have.
Regards
Arran
Fred, I have one of these sets and they work great! Also have a RCA 5U it has a turn table on the top but that does not work. But the radio works fine. The 8 tuber is a lot better.
Arran,
judging by everything being this dirty and rusty, the replacement (if it is) is more or less contemporary or in any case quite old and from the era when people still used and repaired these radios which I think could be 40-s to 50-s. For me it is all old and acceptable, unless you are Russ and doing trye to factory restoration for a museum
I went ahead and darkened the escution, looks better
and the eye tube trim ring
and replaced some more caps
,plays better and sounds better, no more feed back at low volume
(07-07-2015, 08:45 AM)morzh Wrote: [ -> ]Arran,
judging by everything being this dirty and rusty, the replacement (if it is) is more or less contemporary or in any case quite old and from the era when people still used and repaired these radios which I think could be 40-s to 50-s. For me it is all old and acceptable, unless you are Russ and doing trye to factory restoration for a museum
Mike;
RCA slug tuned IF cans were 455KC, were used for a number of years, and are quite easy to find. Besides it looks out of place being shorter and of a completely different design, it is a restoration after all, not a repair.
Regards
Arran
I think it looks better now that you have changed the color of the escutcheon. It looks more original.
Nice job on the cabinet