[Greggshere]

So I fabricated a new dial bezel from four sheets of walnut veneer that I laminated together around a bottle. I then added some supports to fit inside the cabinet opening that will hold a piece of plexiglass. I think it turned out pretty well. I filled the grain, sealed it and toned it dark after these photos I took today. Monday I plan to add another coat or two of clear to the cabinet and wet sand later in the week. The same with the bezel and I will begin reassembly this weekend I believe. Since nobody is reproducing the bezel today I had to do the next best thing and create one. 

           

[klondike98]

Nice work!!!

[Nathan Slingerland]

That repro bezel looks amazing - great job!

[DadsRadio]

Trying again with the photos. Not sure what happens last time.

[Greggshere]

Well I appreciate all of the help everyone has provided on this first cabinet restoration I undertook, along with the electrical restoration. I thought I had remembered to take a finished photo of the underside of the finished chassis, but apparently I did not. It was pretty straight forward with replacing all of the caps and about a third of the resistors and some brittle wiring. I did restring part of the dial cord as well. I did reuse the electrolytic cap outside tube and formed a new epoxy bottom for it and reused the end cap where the wires exit. It turned out perfect and I'm ticked off that I forgot to take a finished photo. Anyway, I also repaired several tears in the speaker cone using the process where you coat the entire speaker cone with clear glue. I really didn't expect it to work, especially since one of the leads where it was attached to the cone was basically torn off. Much to my surprise and delight, the speaker actually works and sounds pretty darn good. Anyway here are some finished pics and a couple of the chassis as I was taking it apart to restore it. Oh yeah, I also redid the bakelite block with safety caps and added a fuse in the power cord circuit. Oh and I almost forgot, special thanks to Steve Davis and the custom brass and felt feet I got from him for this, they were basically a perfect fit.

Finally, since this was my first cabinet restoration and I was learning as I went I also took some creative license To make it the way I wanted it to look vs. the way it probably was new. The nice thing was that the gentleman I got it from shared my photos with his mother who is still alive and she complimented me on the way it looked. She said she loved this old radio and seeing it look this way really made her happy and feel young again when she used to listen to it. That made it all worth it for me, and it will well outlast me most likely. Anyway, here it is 40-158 Code 121-

                   

[Greggshere]

And the additional Chassis pictures:

                   

[Steve Davis]

Very Nice!  

Steve

[KCMike]

Excellent job!

[PhilcoJohn]

BEAUTIFUL job!  I wish I was able to do something like that. It came out great.  

[Greggshere]

Thank you PhilcoJohn!! It was my first complete restoration for both electrical and cabinet. I learned a lot and hope each time the next one is better than the previous.

[mark123]

Hi Greggshere -

Nice job. How did you end up dealing with the splitting/separating veneer on the curve at the top front?

[Greggshere]

Hi Mark, sorry for the delay in response. I used Super glue gel, normal super glue, a wood clamp and a carriage bolt. I used a razor knife to pry the veneer back as far as I safely could then I used the glue  between the veneer and the base wood.  The the clamp and carriage bolt head to direct the pressure to a very small foot print of the damage at a time, waiting several minutes between clamp and unclamp and slowly working my way across the damage. Next I sanded it and any low spots I used a Mohawk finish stick to fill it to just above level, then sanded it flat. I don't know the longevity of the repair, but it turned out awesome, and I'm happy with it. Only time will tell if it returns.


Thanks!
Gregg

[mark123]

Hi Greggshere -

That's a great technique. Thanks for sharing those tips.