The PHILCO Phorum

I did not strip and refinished this one. Instead, I repaired two veneer chips on the top, lightly sanded the old lacquer on the photofinish on the front, applied stain to the front, to deal with a scratch and three gouges, used toned lacquers to refresh the finish on the top and sides, then applied clear gloss lacquer.

This radio works very well, pulling in AM stations without any antenna, and shortwave this morining with just an 8' wire.

For safety, I installed a three wire cord (Sundial Wire), and a fuse. This radio performs significantly better with the chassis grounded. I omitted the original capacitors from each side of the power cord to the chassis, as they would put AC on the chassis, and with the three wire cord, be dumping power into the ground, a hazard. I installed an X-safety capacitor across the hot and neutral wires (after the switch).

I carefully cleaned a few rust spots with Naval Jelly, then carefully polished the chassis with Simichrome.

The $39.95 original price is $600 in today's money, so it was a significant purchase for the original buyer.

I have about $115 in it:
$25 purchase price
$25 miscellaneous (capacitors, cord, plug, terminal strips, de-soldering wick, chemicals, lacquer, sandpaper, etc.)
$23.00 new dial from Radio Daze
$7.27 6Q7G
$2 6K7G had in stock
$2 6F6 had in stock
$2 6A8G had in stock
$4.50 chassis screw sleeves
$24 reproduction tuner supports (3), dial bumpers(2), chassis corner mounts(4)

The first two photos show the effect of lighting, angle, and flash on the apparent color of the finish.















New (reproduction) dial and rubber dial bumpers


new rubber chassis mounts


new rubber tuner mounts


Before (I had the piece for the large chip, so glued it back, and fixed the smaller one with new veneer)

Wow! Beautiful! Very well done!

Mike

Very Nice!!!!
Terry

Thanks! It looks nice in our radio room.

You did a great job, Stephen.

Nice Job on a sweet looking radio !

Thanks, Ron - it is good to read that from someone who is a "Mr. Philco."

Outstanding restoration.
Thanks for preserving another piece of our radio heritage - especially a Philco.

:-)
Chuck

Wow, now two "Mr. Philcos." Thanks!

Since I have a 38-7 which I like better, I sold it at the Antique Phonograph Society event last year. Nobody offered more than $115, so that was my selling price. With zero for my efforts, that is what I had in it, so break even it was. With economic recovery far off, and even more so in California, I've cut way, way back on radio buying.

That is a beautiful radio!

Wonderful job.

Excellent job on the chassis! I am currently doing a resto on a model 15X chassis and am also going for the natural metal finish look. It's a lot of work!!!!!

Very impressive

Thank you for helping me with my 38-10F project. It is now in fine working order.