I picked up rough 37-602 cheap a yr or two ago. Most of the Philcote finish was gone. Didn't really want to buy one of those decal photofinish replacements. So a member saw a cabinet on ebay and I got it. Price was good but it has some challenges. Missing abt 10% of the photofinish and a crack in the top. Repaired the crack and re glued the frt.
Sanded the sides as I was a little apprehensive abt using a chemical stripper. Cleaned the frt and back w/mineral spirits and then gave the whole thing a few coats of sanding sealer. Sanded the p/f lightly w/400g paper. Original it had some crazing and want to level that out. Mixed up some water based acrylic paint to do the touchup work on the p/f. Using a very small brush I went after the little dings. A few more coats of sanding sealer and sanding to level it some more. Once I get the back side touched up it will be ready for toner and clear coat. The toning is for the top only not the photofinish.
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
Terry
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2020, 09:08 AM by Radioroslyn.)
Abracadabra. Very nice!!! As I was reading the text, the image was scrolled down part way and visible only on the top half, making it look like a picture of a small tombstone laying on its side.
Terry;
it's always good to salvage a finish like that whenever it's practical to do so, I think that it looked like better then 90% of the faux finish was still intact so it was worth the attempt. I'm glad that new decals to replace the "Philcote" finish are available now for cabinets like the other one you have, it may not be original but it's as close as you can get, and will save a lot of poorly treated originals, or cabinets that have been stripped to bare wood.
Regards
Arran
Tnx guys,
I really didn't what to invest $42 for the "replacement decals" as I have seen them on other sets and wasn't impressed. If you look closely that the before and after pics on there web site the color is way off. The original is sort of a mottled caramel, their rendition is mahogany red. To me it sticks out like a sort thumb. Along w/that issue the one I saw had an adhesion problem along the outside edges. Think of doing all the cabinet work to have the decal peel up after a few months. Disclaimer this was abt 4 yrs ago so the company may have improved their product line since then.
I did leather repair for 27yrs (for work) match color and textures so doing the wood touch up is kinda fun. This is the original cabinet the chassis came in.
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
And, no, unfortunately that "company" still has issues. I haven't dealt with their faux finish decals, but did get some of their cabinet labels and was not impressed. First with how long it took to get one, and then when it finally arrived, it was the size of a postage stamp when it should have been 2 inches by 4 inches. I've not dealt with them since.
Update
Here's a few pics of the cabinet, I think I'm done except for final buffing in a month from now. Onward to the chassis. It's working but unserviced.
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
Kenneth
It's not all that difficult but it takes a lot of patience, sanding sealer, very small artist brush, 600g paper, and a little water base acrylic paint.
Basically the object is to just color the small damage areas w/the small brush w/the least amount of paint. To prep I clean the pf with some mineral spirits then spray several coats of sanding sealer. Sand lightly w/600g paper to level any slight alagatoring in the pf. Then touch up color w/sm brush. Scratches or straight lines can be difficult to hide. Sometimes using a couple of colors throughout the length of the line or just color parts of it.
Adding the acrylic paint over the sanding sealer base will leave a slight raised area so a few more coats of sanding sealer and light sanding are in order. I use a rubber sanding block to get a flat surface. Edges wear quickly so have to keep an eye not to sand thru. Repeat as necessary.
This '602 has abt 6 coats of sanding sealer and 4 coat of gloss sanding between the coats. The damaged areas arn't flat and smooth, the lacquer doesn't have a lot of filling power. Some of the damage on this one was pretty deep and on an angle you can see the ding, straight on it looks good.
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
It's marked 18/0. Not quite sure what it means. Just want to get the smallest one I could.
Tnx!
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
