[PhilcoPhan1936]

I got a 1935 Philco 66S Tombstone earlier this year from our friend Wilbur. I had a restored 66B Cathedral chassis restored, so I swapped it out.
The dial has a gap when viewing through the front escutcheon. (See pic below).
I even replaced the chassis bushings, and the tuning cap bushings with new replacements. Still a gap.  
My question is this: Did the 66S have a different run (code) chassis that included a different dial, or was this just an oversight from the factory?
The chassis that came in the 66S has the same dial, as far as I can tell, but Wilbur may have robbed that chassis from another 66B.
I noted that my 66B Cathedral has a smaller opening in the escutcheon, so there's no gap problem with that one.
I even pulled the escutcheon from that to see if I could swap them. No such luck.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
[Image: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1922/3156...5724_z.jpg]

[morzh]

I noticed this problem in some Philcos. Even with grommets under the cap replaced and the shaft being in the center of irs hole, the dials often show the gap. My 18 certainly does.

[Ron Ramirez]

It appears that the 66S in the Gallery also has a gap between the top of the dial scale and the top of the dial opening in the escutcheon.

http://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1935c/#Model_66S

Surely Philco did not send those radios out like that. I knew that they started using larger escutcheons on Model 60 (and 38) sets beginning with the 1936 season (June 1935), with larger dial scales to match. But it appears Philco may have made the switch near the end of 1935 production, winter-spring 1935, if a 66S has the large escutcheon - unless someone enlarged the hole in the front panel of your cabinet to install a larger escutcheon. As you say you have had the escutcheon off this cabinet, did the hole appear to have been cut at the factory or does it appear to have been enlarged?

[PhilcoPhan1936]

Ron,
Thanks for the info.
It was factory cut.
The holes to mount the escutcheon that was on there were the only ones.

[Ron Ramirez]

Well, that proves that Philco started using larger escutcheons on those sets (60, 66, 38, 39) before the end of the 1935 season.

Now the question is...did they start using larger dial scales at the same time as well?

I found a possible answer in the August 1, 1935 Philco Changes in Models Bulletin:

   

This could indicate the introduction of a larger dial scale and escutcheon as well, which would mean the 66 received it before the 60 and 38 did. Just guesswork here, since I did not find any concrete evidence one way or the other.

You can find a set of Philco Changes in Models bulletins here:
http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...hp?tid=215

Edit: Upon further reading, the same bulletin states that Model 60 received a dial scale with larger figures starting on 1-1-35. It seems reasonable that this could imply that the new scales were larger, necessitating a larger escutcheon for models 60 and 38 and possibly 39 and 66. Again, just guesswork.

[PhilcoPhan1936]

Thanks again Ron.  
Just out of curiosity, I went to Radio Daze to look at what they have available.
They offer 2 different diameter dials!
The standard size, and another that adds 1/4" on the outside edge.
So I bookmarked it. I'll probably order it eventually.  

http://www.radiodaze.com/philco66-66s-66x-27-5081/