[mikethedruid]

WOW! That's really pretty! Gonna be an amazing radio when you're finished.

[morzh]

Very imposing thing.

[rfeenstra]

Almost intimidating!

[rfeenstra]

Disassembly of the chassis is well under way. All of the coils except the FM IF coils have been removed.  Getting the 3 panels out that hold the band switch and shield the RF sections was a real pain.  The center panel is welded in so the other 3 panels had to be rotated to get them out from under the chassis lip.  That necessitated disassembling the entire band switch and removing the FM RF coils.

I am really questioning whether I want to strip the entire chassis for re-chroming.  A major job, and then I have to rivet everything back together. The EH Scott 16 I did was bad enough.  This is almost twice the work.  It would look great but the reality is that with it in the console and the top of the console hinged up, you really only see the tops of the chrome tube shields, coil shields and tuning cap cover.  Here are some pics of the chassis in its present state. Opinions on the re-chrome appreciated!

                   

[Eliot Ness]

I wouldn't re-chrome the chassis, that's a lot of work and potential problems.  Clean it up and maybe do the chrome tube shields, coil shields and tuning cap cover if they need it.  The radio is old enough to sport a few blemishes.....that's my 2 centavos worth of advice, but it will look great whatever you decide.  Good luck!

[Phlogiston]

Tried to send a PM. Not sure if it went out - -

[rfeenstra]

yes it did Russ, but I couldn't send send you one.  It said you had exceeded the limit.  Perhaps you need to delete a bunch of old ones.

anyway, here is what I was trying to send:

Thanks Russ.  You are correct in saying that some, including me would be bugged by the chassis not being perfect.  I have already been tossing that around in my head.  I may sit on the decision for a few days.  I don't play my 16 much, but when I look at it, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing  the nearly perfect chrome.  If the shop where I sent the amp parts to does a good job on the shield,  I'll send them all of the shields from the 16 and the Philly.  I'm at a point in the disassembly of the Philly where I either go all the way, or start stuffing capacitors.  Drilling out and re-riveting well over 100 rivets is not my favorite thing to do!  Personal satisfaction demands I do it, but practicality questions it.

Thanks again.

[Phlogiston]

Yeah, I forgot that you have to delete the deleted items from the deleted items folder.

[rfeenstra]

Moving toward re-chroming... I think.  I'm afraid the nagging question if I don't will be, "I did all that work to restore, why didn't I just go all the way?"  Hmmm, sooo much work...

[Phlogiston]

And  the more time that passes the more likely you are to see it that way - 20 years in the future when all of the chrome shops are closed or very expensive, you'll wonder why you did not just finish it 20 years ago. Of course if you don't have money for food, or your kids collage, then, NO.

[rfeenstra]

You are correct, Russ, if I live another 20 years!  You are also correct about the plating shops.  I just lost the one that did my 16 (except the coil shields).

An additional question for you:  When I stripped my 16 I removed the sockets with most of the wiring and many components intact.  This made it easier to reassemble before actually replacing components.  I noticed that Scott Seickel appears to have removed every component in the stripping process on the Philly he had re-chromed.  What is your preferred method, remove every component before removing the sockets and terminal strips, or leaving things as intact as possible?

[rfeenstra]

Committed. Easy side stripped. No turning back.

       

[Phlogiston]

Take a look at the Scotts, Strats and M. Silvers on my blog. I have done them both ways but this is probably easiest: remove the components as intact as possible. When reinstalling you are going to rebuild the caps and many resistors, broken parts and so on. So in the end most parts will be removed and reinstalled, but it is a little easier keeping track in this way - until you have done a few dozen and  having a good memory will help.

P.S. In many of the ones I have done things like covers/shields and tuning caps are replated and painted. So having everything loose helps with this. One advantage I have is the ability to nickel plate here. (let some one else do the chrome.)

[rfeenstra]

Thanks Russ.  This is the way I did the 16. It certainly helps to keep things straight. I won't play with the chrome process, but I am seriously contemplating playing with nickle and tin plating.  I've done some cadmium plating on airplane parts using the the brush plating method.  One can't get the solutions for the  dangerous cadmium anymore.  There are some small parts that I would like to improve the appearance of using nickel or tin (tube shields on most radios look awful!  I suspect they were tin plated. Correct me please, if I am wrong.)  When this is all finished,  I think I'll be proud of it.  A lot of work, though.

[Phlogiston]

Now I have one too. Early version I think. Good condition but expensive.