[Nathan Slingerland]

Today I'm kicking off the restoration of my Philco 118MX that I picked up in April.

Front

• The grille cloth is intact  
  
• There is something funky going on with the tuning knob if you look closely at the front...  It seems that at some point the dial cord broke and so some too clever person fixed it with a direct dial drive. Luckily the bonus hole is in the middle of the opaque black lacquer section. I plan to fill the void with some repair epoxy from Mohawk.
  
• The escutcheon is damaged - fortunately I was able to locate a replacement, but from a 118B. It's identical but doesn't have the painted lines- so those will need to be added.
  

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4086/3491...43cd_z.jpg]

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4284/3568...0329_z.jpg]

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Back

•  The echo absorbing screen is there!    I'm not too worried about the recap - and I think I can scavenge the parts I need to restore the tuning mechanism from a junker 18 chassis.
  

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4137/3568...d111_z.jpg]

Top

• No big issues here - I plan to refinish it with black lacquer.
  
• The trim is loose in spots - just needs to be reglued.
  

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4149/3568...dabd_z.jpg]

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4136/3488...0760_z.jpg]

Sides

• The side veneer has several problems. It's lifiting in many places. But worse, it's badly warped and has been poorly reglued in the past. Given that the veneer should be perfectly rectangular and flat - and because there's a few pretty serious gouges - I'm thinking that it may be easiest to just replace it. I guess I'll see how removing it goes.
  

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4236/3491...8f94_z.jpg]

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4259/3572...e688_z.jpg]

[Image: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4021/3555...0210_z.jpg]

I'm really at a loss to explain how the veneer ended up this way.