[kiwi_steve]

Back in the early 30's Philips had a presence in New Zealand, and had started to build a manufacturing plant here but it was far from complete so they had radios produced here by Radio Corp of NZ (RCNZ - absolutely no relation to RCA).  These radios used Philips valves, but were apparently otherwise an RCNZ design.  One of these models was the 516P - a 5 valve broadcast band radio that came in two different cabinets.  A short one and a tall one.  I had the tall one, which can be seen here in a 1936 advert, and I suspect from the ARTS&P labels we had for licensing on our radios that the shorter ones were an earlier model, maybe the previous years offering.

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Mine had quite a poor cabinet (it had been a feast for bugs) and thought it was a goner and I would not get to own a good 516... 

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but not so long ago I found 2 more on a high shelf in a back room of a small second hand shop in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.  They were covered in bird poop and in pretty bad shape, and the other cabinet model... but I recognised the dials and knobs and managed to get them for $40 for the pair from memory due to their state.  I was stoked.  They got a quick wipedown and went into the collection and have been waiting for love ever since.

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Yesterday I thought I would see if I could do a 1-day project and get one going and looking ok.  One day?  What was I thinking  

I picked the one with the better cabinet, and grabbed the stripping gear - no, not the velcro pants and clip on bowtie... paint stripper and acetone... get your mind out of the gutter.  Wait, what do you mean I was the only one thinking that?... ok, its late... I should stop waffling now... any time now... please make it stop...

Anyway, a couple of hours later I had this:

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Please don't note the stain from spilled acetone on the grillcloth.  It survived 80 years and then some idiot wrecked it by being careless.  I still want to kick myself.  The acetone practically just ate the gold weave and disolved it... leaving holes.  sigh... so I ended up having to take it out.

as this was an exercise in speed with some care and minimal attention I didn't want to do too much to the cabinet.  Actually I really prefer to leave some life in it so the dings and scrapes were left as-is.  I simply painted the black trim black again, and gave the whole cabinet a really good going over inside as well as out because a bird had sat on the OP TX and power-pooped down the inside of it! (to say nothing of all the rodent poop in the bottom)

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I then put some new felt feet on it, shellaced the whole thing, and hit it with the dark oak Briwax.  Thats it, done.  By lunchtime.  

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And of course I needed new grill cloth.  All I have that is suitable is some repro stuff I got for the 37-630... PHILco... PHILips... near enough

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As for the radio itself, I ran out of time due to other commitments... but I'm working on that now.  I'm planning to just get it going, but I can never just do that... and I'm already soaking some parts to get rid of rust...

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I hope those side-contact valves are ok - I have none in my spares... although there is a couple in the other chassis...

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So thats my 1-day project... 2 days and counting