[DeckApe]

So!

I've mentioned my recent acquisition of a Philco 40-190 art deco skyscraper in another thread. Here it is, fore and aft:

[Image: http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii66/...before.jpg] [Image: http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii66/...before.jpg]

As you can see, the cabinet's in fundamentally decent shape, after having been refinished (not by myself, but that's okay). The speaker cloth has been replaced, but by all accounts (looking at a couple other 40-190 restoration jobs) the fabric is the right pattern. The speaker is still down at the in-laws, after having been found. It's reported that the metal is lightly rusted, but the paper's pretty harsh (so it's re-coning time, I suspect). I'm also aware that there is a support missing from the interior of the cabinet, used to hold up the lower end of the loop antenna (I'm just glad I have the antenna).

My first steps are to find a decent book on How To Restore the goodies in the chassis (which you may also discern is rusty on the top face...rumor has it this radio lived in a barn for a couple of decades) and to finish up the cosmetic work. This means stripping and repainting the escutcheon (which is black), replacing the decals (the sunburn on the cabinet clues me in that I need the 5/16" Philco label as well as the dial labels, which I have found on-line), and repacing the push-buttons (also readily available). Miracle of miracles, the tuner string is intact and beautifully functional!

My intentions (at least with this first radio) are to restore it to 'functionality.' I'm quite taken with the external appearance of the cabinet, but only you folk and myself are going to know I slipped contemporary parts in. (I may yet hold on to any original capacitors etc. that I remove in case I want to improve my work at a later date, or just have a couple of crash-test capacitors to practice re-stuffing.)

So, y'all, a couple of questions.

(1) The few other restores I've seen of this model are with the wine-colored push buttons; why are mine light brown?

(2) In Your Personal Preferences, does anyone have a good or bad opinion on any particular How To books?

(3) And this is unrelated, at least in the short term: after sifting my way through the technial whatnot, is my understanding of a Variac correct in that it is essentially a variable-voltage-AC-output?

Be gentle with a newbie, good folk, and you may find a new hobbyist on your hands.