[Arran]

My repairman disagreed with the recommendation from Ron for a 1.5 amp. He said you need to compensate for the phono and lights. I took the radio back to him and he put in a 2 amp slo-blo fuse. It is working well now, but the push buttons don't work and I don't get anything on short-wave.

If you want my opinion I think you should replace your repairman for two reasons:
(1) He can't read a schematic, the phonograph motor is operated directly from the power line, through the radio power switch, but is otherwise independent of the radio power supply. The factory wattage rating of the radio includes already includes the pilot lamps and usually the phono motor, so if anything Ron rated the fuse slightly too high, the fuse should be on the primary of the transformer not simply on the power line with the phonograph motor ahead of it.
(2) This is a 1946 Philco with parts that could be up to 65 years old, would you try driving a 1946 car with 1946 tires down the highway just because they hold air? Only a complete yo yo would perform anything short of a recap on a customer's radio of that age, caps are cheap as are resistors, and it takes just as long to track down the so called "bad capacitors" as it does just to replace them all, in reality they are all bad just some are worse then others, this is likely the reason that the short wave band does not work and the fuse blew. At the same time this set also has a power transformer and a filed coil on the speaker, those are not easy to replace nor are they cheap, a two amp slow blow fuse on the power line is more then large enough to allow the transformer to burn up should a capacitor short out.
Best Regards
Arran