[SteveG]

I'm contemplating buying one of these. I can only find one pic online at a Czech site. It looks like it's a 9 tube radio with a green eye tube. Anyone know where there's any more pics or info? Thanks!

[JimZ]

Lemme post the pic you found so maybe guys will know it by sight

http://alfaelektronky.cz/archiv/2011/valmez/val11.jpg

Compare this..that cabinet looked familiar to me after I saw the pic of the one you found

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1940s-WA...SwbdpWbeoE

Steve look at the stamp by the chassis tag...do we see 319?

Or is that the guy wanting to sell it to you?

In any event yes a 9 tube chassis...you could look at other models that used the chassis and see how it does etc

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymodel...011445.pdf

[SteveG]

Jim,
Thanks for posting that Czech pic. I couldn't seem to link it from my phone. Yes, that's the one. You know my weakness for Deco Airline consoles! I've been talking to that guy on eBay about it. Mark Palmquist has the dial cover. The speaker cloth may be tough to find.
Steve

[JimZ]

Ahh..OK thats what I figured because of the location. I saw the Czech one and thought..wait a minute...I just saw one of those. While I was looking I also found a table model with the same chassis 62-419 which is also nice.
I noticed radio daze makes a dial for the models with that chassis but its full of colors and nice/
For some reason all the models that use that chassis are pretty uncommon.
Id imagine its a pretty good playing radio once redone..and interesting cabinet/

[SteveG]

Jim,
I looked thru the Radio Daze site and didn't see that exact one. There are two holes near the dial stem on this radio and I think theirs had three.
Steve

[Arran]

 That set has a very amusing gimmick, from the front it looks like it has a 12 inch speaker, but from the rear it looks like they bolted an 8'' speaker to a metal cone. I have no doubt that it is probably a decent performing set, tuned RF amplifier stage, and separate oscillator and mixer tubes which should help with shortwave performance. It's too bad that they decided to pull the tube stuffing scam in the rear end by using a 6F5 and a 6H6 rather then a 6Q7. Whilst the two diodes in the 6H6 seem to have their cathodes wired separately I doubt whether this would have much advantage in performance. In a Philco they would have used a 6Q7 and used push-pull outputs with a screen grid inversion setup, or because they didn't use magic eyes maybe even a phase inverter for the ninth tube.
  The one thing that I do not find appealing is that cabinet, it's as plain as a lower end Philco, which is disappointing for a nine tube set. Regarding the grill cloth on the fleabay Airline, the pattern looks rather blond for the era, I wonder if it's the correct cloth but sun bleached or if someone in the late 1940s or early 50s decided to change it out to make it more modern?
Regards
Arran

[SteveG]

Arran,
Thanks for the assessment. I like the Deco looks of the cabinet, but the leaning towards being plain has me halted, so far, at buying it. My radio collecting usually leans more towards the cabinet looks, rather than tube count or speaker size. I'm guessing this can be attributed to my being electronically challenged on chassis details and workings. The thought of having to sort out the workings of the chassis and testing and repairing it, seems as daunting to me as deciding, at my age, to become a computer engineer! Both ought to happen at the same time.....
Steve

[Arran]

Arran,
Thanks for the assessment.  I like the Deco looks of the cabinet, but the leaning towards being plain has me halted, so far, at buying it.  My radio collecting usually leans more towards the cabinet looks, rather than tube count or speaker size.  I'm guessing this can be attributed to my being electronically challenged on chassis details and workings.  The thought of having to sort out the workings of the chassis and testing and repairing it, seems as daunting to me as deciding, at my age, to become a computer engineer!  Both ought to happen at the same time.....
Steve

Steve;
  I don't know if you could really call that Airline's cabinet "Deco" as you put it, with those beaded columns on the front corners it has much more of a neoclassical look to my eyes, though a very plain representation of one. Many radio cabinets from the 1930s borrow elements from multiple forms of styling and sort of lump them together, many are closer to art nouveau then art deco, still others are what they thought of as "streamlined" or "Moderne" which is what they called things with a bullet shape or lots of curves. You could keep your eyes open for a Sears "Silvertone" console or a mid to late 1930s General Electric, some of the Strombergs, and late model Majestics really were Art Deco, along with a few Philco cabinets.
Regards
Arran

[SteveG]

I'm safe now! Someone else bought it!

[JimZ]

 Maybe one of these (nice price) will show up closer

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wood-Console-Tub...SwZG9Wicmf

[SteveG]

Jim,
Thanks for the suggestion.  That's certainly a rare radio with that clock in a console.  I would think that the missing knob and the dial pointer would be a Holy Grail type quest to find...

I'd really like one of these Truetone Consoles or a similar Tombstone.  
Steve
[Image: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500..._Radio.jpg]
[Image: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500..._7_D_b.jpg]
It would go well with the two Airlines I already have that were probably made by the same company.  They're also smaller consoles, being all about 36x20x10 inches:
[Image: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500...2-123b.JPG]
[Image: http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500...170348.JPG]