[thirtiesradio]

 I think I would have just bypassed the original electrolytic caps rather then draining them, sometimes you can solder a short terminal strip to the positive lug and connect a modern radial lead cap to it rather then restuffing. If they are originals A.K obviously used electrolytic filter caps of a decent quality, those wet electrolytics are usually bone dry, and have been bypased by new ones underneath, or have been removed and replaced with newer can type dry electrolytics.  
  I think that one can reasonably complain about the poor construction methods in these later A.K sets, there was a good reason why they shut their doors in 1936 because Philco had them nailed to the wall. I don't think that whether they used the rubber wire makes much difference, if they had used the cloth stuff they would still be a bad design, Majestic, and their Canadian cousins,  used rubber wire and heavy steel too in their chassis, but unlike the A.Ks most are not that bad to work on.
Regards
Arran

I always thought that Atwater Kent closed their doors rather than reduce the quality of their sets to cut the prices?

I have a 206, a 447 and a 112S which I believe are from around 1935. The very high quality of the 447 and 112S amazes me. The 112S chassis must weigh 100lbs. I know AK manufactured there own components. On parts they didn't already make they tooled up and made them as they couldn't find an outside vendor that were up to their standards. They were very well known long before making radios as a high quality manufacturer of coils, capacitors, etc...

I don't know about the circuit design of AK sets, but the 3 sets I own perform and sound a notch above the same tube count sets I have. The 206 is the best sounding small tube count table set I have. Just a very clear, pleasing sound even at high volumes. AK designed and manufactured their own speakers and they seem very well built. I've had comments on the 206's sound from visitors and it is one radio I play often. The only table top Philco I have that sounds as good as the small 206 is the 16B which has a larger 10" speaker. Of course the Philco just kills the 206 performance wise. I'd expect that though as a well designed radio with 5 more tubes should perform better.

One thing I know is the 12 tube AK 112 pulls in very faint stations that are almost inaudible on a 16B. I don't think you get the same performance until you get to the 15 tube Philcos. I admit the wiring looks a bit more cluttered on some AK's than on many other brands, but I quickly forget that when I'm tuning the dial.

When I talk with others about well built quality radios, the AK sets seem to always be mentioned.
My only problem with the sets I've restored is the rubber wiring.