The PHILCO Phorum

I've finally finished rebuilding a Philco 40-180 for friend who obtained the radio from his grandfather. I replaced all paper and electrolytic caps, rubber wire and gave it a good cleaning. It sounds great for a 1940 vintage radio.

I tried to keep it as original as possible that is why the original electrolytic's are still in place but are disconnected below.

The cabinet was in great shape to begin with so I just treated it with Howard's "restor a finish" and "feed n wax". I was going to refinish the metal trim around the dial but wanted to get it to my friend before Christmas. Anyone know who sells Plasti kote #139S brass paint locally?

Attached are a few before and after photos.

Nice looking set! I did a 41-280 for my brother last summer when I went home for a month. Agree, a swell sounding radio!!

How do you like the Howards products? I have heard a lot about the resto-finish product, but have not convinced myself to try it yet.

I like the Howard products, they are very easy to apply and do a great job. They are discussed in the Cabinet Restoration section often.

I don't normally restore radio's, I mainly do tube equipment for stereos. I have a Dynaco ST 70 amplifier and Dynaco PAS 2 pre-amp that I recapped and use as part of my 2 channel stereo system. I have plenty of projects but little time to work on them. I have my Dad's first "hi-fi" which is an old Philco with a built in record player that I would like to restore on day.

I decided to paint the metal trim around the dial on the 40-180 since it looked worn compared to the rest of the radio.

Updated pics with the newly painted bezel and a second coat of wax. I used Rust-oleum aged brass paint #254452.

Very nice!!!
Terry

The radio chassis and escucheon design look like my 39-31 Philco. I am looking for an antenna and speaker for this model. Can you help? By the way what is the part number for the 8 buttons? Nice restoration!!

Thx,

Jimy

The 39-31 did not have a built-in antenna. It relied upon an external longwire antenna.

Ron,

Any long wire will due, or do I have to find a wire from that era and model?(39-31) I have a stereo radio Y wall wire that I thought might do the trick?

Jimy

Any sort of insulated wire will do.

The 39-30, as with all vintage radios designed to use longwire antennas, was designed to work best with a longwire erected outdoors, 50 to 100 feet in length, as high off the ground as possible and as far away from electrical lines as possible. Such a longwire must have lightning protection by the use of a lightning arrestor.

Today, it is not always possible or practical to erect an outdoor longwire. A length of insulated wire, 20 or so feet long placed in the same room as the radio is in, is better than nothing. Be sure the far end of the wire (the end not connected to the radio) is not connected to anything and cannot be placed into a nearby electrical outlet by a child!

Thanks Ron, you are truly a wealth of knowledge willing to share without hesitation!!

Thanks again,

Jim

Jimy Wrote:The radio chassis and escucheon design look like my 39-31 Philco. I am looking for an antenna and speaker for this model. Can you help? By the way what is the part number for the 8 buttons? Nice restoration!!

Thx,

Jimy

I purchased the 8 buttons from Radio Daze (radiodaze.com), the part number is PB-PHIL41-B. With shipping they were around $20.

What color did you use? I was under the impression that the buttons were originally wine-colored, but those look to be brown.

DeckApe Wrote:What color did you use? I was under the impression that the buttons were originally wine-colored, but those look to be brown.

You are correct I used the brown buttons. I believe that only the early builds used the wine colored buttons. The original buttons were wine colored but it was hard to tell when I received the radio since they were in poor shape. Radio Daze sells the wine colored buttons as well.

All of the 1940 Philco models with eight pushbuttons used wine colored translucent buttons. Philco switched to brown for the 1941 models.