[Ron Ramirez]

I've sort of been building up to this one:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_001.jpg]

The cabinet is in pretty bad shape, but that's a topic for another time and another section of the Phorum.

"Before" chassis pictures:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_002.jpg]

The 1st IF transformer has obviously been replaced, as the original was tall and round with adjuster slugs mounted on the side.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_003.jpg]

This set is an excellent candidate for the bayonet base LED lamps with flexible leads from Pinball Life. This set uses ten pilot lamps!

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_004.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_005.jpg]

Things looks sort of rough under the chassis, but not as bad as I expected. The power transformer has also been replaced.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_006.jpg]

This model has two dial scales and uses two tuning controls. One of the two is used exclusively for the "spread bands" on the right, and uses the same sort of (missing) coupling that I ran into in the 42-761EZ that I worked on in early 2013. Now I'll have to find that extra piece of rubber I bought when I made a spacer for its tuning control...

For those of you wondering why I've abandoned my Brand Z 9-S-262 project: I haven't abandoned it...I am still waiting for resistors for it. A word of advice: Don't ever order parts from Mouser and specify "economy" shipping unless you don't care when they arrive. I ordered those resistors on Christmas Eve...and I am still waiting for them.

[sam]

WOW Ron
take it you like to rewire them
have not seen a trans with wire jumper ?
least not to many caps
sam

[Eliot Ness]

Looks like this one won't be a walk-in-the-park.... looking forward to the restoration!  That looks like a neat set, I didn't realize that you had a whole Tropic room at your house

As far as Mouser goes, I imagine the holidays played a role in the somewhat slower delivery.  A Christmas Eve order might not have even shipped until the 26th.

[Ron Ramirez]

Sam

No, I don't like to rewire sets with rubber-covered wiring...but if you're going to collect 1939-1942 Philcos, it goes with the territory, unfortunately.

Besides, after completely rewiring a 41-616 - which is a monster - I think I can tackle any Philco with rubber-covered wiring.

John (Eliot)

Thanks! Yes, I have a wire rack shelving unit in my home office, on which I have all of my prewar Tropics on display (including two Canadian equivalents thereof). I did not want to mar the original textured wall in here, so I opted for the free-standing shelving unit instead.

And I agree with you re: the slow post-Christmas Mouser order. You are correct, it did not ship until the 26th. It was sent from Texas to Kansas City. That took four days. Then two more days to make the 237 mile trip from KC to Hazelwood, MO. We shall see how long it takes to get from there to here...

[LASJayhawk]

... not long, they just have to go to KC, then on to NYC, then out to LA, then down to Phoenix. A quick trip up to Seattle, then back to Texas. From there it is a straight shot to StL, back to NYC then on to IN.

[Ron Ramirez]

Believe it or not, the parts arrived today! So for now, it's back to the Brand Z 9-S-262. Once that is done, I'll resume working on the 42-788.

Today before the parts arrived, I spent my time doing preliminary work noting where the various wires of the three IF transformers are connected under the chassis, and the two wiring harnesses of the many pilot lamps. That alone took all morning to notate. Some of the wires going to the band switch for the various pilot lamps may get resleeved with heat shrink tubing instead of being replaced with new wires, as some of those connections will be extremely difficult or perhaps even impossible to reach with a soldering iron.

[Joeztech]

Wow, I have never seen one of these! This one is a very good electronic design for the period from Philco. It is a shame that they were not offered in the US. Or were they? Perhaps by special order? These would have been much more sensitive and selective than the normal US models.

Joe

[Ron Ramirez]

Joe

It is my understanding that the Tropic models were intended only for export. The stickers most still have on the back and/or inside state, in French, "Built expressly for export."

That said, however, I believe that some may have been sold in the USA - clandestinely or not. The oldest Tropic I have, a 39-770T, appears to have spent most if not all of its "life" in NY until it was ultimately purchased by a collector in eastern PA, and then later sold to me. It even has a sticker in the back from an NYC repair shop.

I really don't think that all of the Tropic sets that have turned up in the past 20 or so years were brought back with immigrants. I do feel that a few must have been sold here.

That's just a guess, of course; there is no way of knowing for sure. All of the principals from the time these were being made are long gone, and dead men tell no tales.

[Ron Ramirez]

Well, I started working on this chassis today.

This is not going to be an easy task. Wires semi-buried underneath the tuning mechanism, plus the wiring harnesses which control the various dial lamps attached to the rearmost section of the band switch, the lower terminals of which are not accessible...yep, this one is going to be fun. Oy vey.

[Chuck Schwark]

Just remember…

"Illigitimus non Carborundum."

[KCMike]

Ron, that one looks like it will be a good looker and player. Look foward to the restro. posts.
Chuck, good way to say it and keep it clean.

[Ron Ramirez]

Not much to report so far, even though I have put several hours into it. It is going very slow. I've only replaced a half dozen resistors and a few capacitors so far, along with several wires.

I baked several paper caps in the old toaster oven this afternoon as I will be needing more of these to restuff and install in this set.

Photos tomorrow.

[Ron Ramirez]

Progress report:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_008.jpg]

Usually when I start working on a Philco that requires replacement of rubber-covered wiring, I just pick a spot and jump in.

As you can see above, my work has been concentrated on the center of the chassis. Six paper caps, two micas, and a dozen resistors have been replaced so far.

A closer look:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_009.jpg]

Yes, those old paper caps in the center of the chassis are restuffed.

As John (Eliot) said earlier, this has been no "walk in the park," and I knew it wouldn't be. So far, I have had to carefully resleeve two wires that run under the permeability tuning unit to the band switch - with more of those to come. This is what is really slowing things down. Once I get past that and start working towards the left, things should pick up as far as speed of work goes.

[Ron Ramirez]

I worked on it a little more this evening. All IF transformers and the audio output transformer have now been removed.

The IFs will receive new wires.

The audio transformer...it was removed in order to give me a little more room to work - its wires were getting in the way.

Slow going...but making progress...

[Ron Ramirez]

Man, this is slow going...

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_010.jpg]

As you can see, I am having to remove some components in order that I may replace all of that rotten rubber wire.

The rubber insulation on these wires is literally crumbling as it is touched. It has to be replaced.

A closer look:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...88_011.jpg]

I'm currently in the audio output section. I'm just about ready to start replacing resistors here (actually, two have already been replaced, as you can see), and then I will install new capacitors.

You can see in these photos that many of the original Philco paper caps were replaced with caps with plastic shells at some time, and the work was done sloppily. I will replace these caps with restuffed paper caps - Philco, Sprague, and Cornell Dubilier (depending on what I have and the printed values on the shells).