[Arran]

Well, this little curtain burner is playing!  I wound up using one diode between the tie point on the 25Z5 tube and the candohm.  New power cord is installed and new caps and some resistors were replaced.  4 out of the 5 tubes were good.  I had the replacement.  It's not exactly "hi-fi" but it's better than I thought it would be.  One more knob coming and it will be completed.

Not sure I want another one with the line resistance cord, but at least I have an experience I hadn't had before

I would still add another diode ahead of the first as a safety measure, that way if one diode shorts out your tube filaments won't go bye bye. It's not exactly a Hi Fi set but compared to some early AC/DC sets it looks pretty good, many were four tube cheapies with a two stage TRF circuit, not very selective with strong stations and not very sensitive for distant ones either, I have one of those, and it's basically a mini space heater with audio. This one has more in common with one of the International Kadette Radio models from the same period, though the Kadettes usually used a ballast tube rather then a curtain burner.
Regards
Arran