[radiohenry]

  Well for what it's worth it looks like a nice early set of tubes. They all appear to be Arcturus brand and the four metal look like Arcturus Coronet some of the very early metal tubes.  Likely worth more than you paid for the radio
                                                        Nice buy.
                                                              Henry

[JimZ]

Ill bet the case used to look a lot like this one before the front trim pieces were lost. Maybe this will get us closer

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=6470

[RoyG]

Ill bet the case used to look a lot like this one before the front trim pieces were lost.  Maybe this will get us closer

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=6470

Here are some additional pictures of the cabinet.
Certainly the Empire picture is very close.
Tubes are Traid (MG series) except the 25Z6 which is the Arcturus.
Thanks for all the input on this radio. My investment so far on the radio is $5.-Roy
   
   
   

[Joe Rossi]

Ill bet the case used to look a lot like this one before the front trim pieces were lost.  Maybe this will get us closer

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=6470

Jim,  That's a good catch.  The Empire you referenced is a Chicago-manufactured radio.  Empire was in the same building as Clinton Manufacturing and would have the 'Manufactured in Plant A or Plant C' tag.  While the cabinets are not the same, the escutcheon certainly looks so.  On another note, I'm curious about the bent chassis.  I still think the radio is a Halson or Air King, and to the point of several others, inside a 'new' cabinet.  Cheers!  Joe

[JimZ]

^^Its a torment with no numbers because its one of those cabinet styles that a lot of companies made...during a particular time frame. We look at it and think "Ive seen that cabinet before" but when we look there are a lot of variations on the theme. Heck Ive even seen that same dial escutcheon on an early Firestone center dial set.
Fairly well made cabinet and the general shape is pleasing to a lot of eyes as well as the vertical inlay work. The veneer treatment on the top was well done and I don't think whoever made the radio would have bothered with those details on some "crap" radio.
Sooner or later well find an example that fits like a glove.

[Joe Rossi]

Roy and Jim,

The Climax Conquistador at http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=7380 has nearly the same cabinet, and the lattice work is the same.  The Majestic 1163 at http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=6457 has the exact same dial face.  We are indeed closing the gap.  As to the MG tubes, those could be replacements and not originals, like that newer orange Mallory electrolytic underneath.  Joe

[RoyG]

Correct tube line up, according to the preprinted numbers on the tube sockets are 50A2, 25Z5, 6K7, 6J7, 43. I have not seen tube sockets with preprinted tube numbers on them in commercially produced radios however I have only worked on about 15 different manufacturers. I am sure there are those on the phorum that have worked on so many more different manufacturers radios. The more I look at this set the more I think it was a chassis kit and and an off the shelf catalog cabinet. Arran mentioned that the tube sockets might be Amphenol they are Amphenol.

[Arran]

 I've seen sets with the tube numbers engraved on the sockets on occasion, usually on sets using older style tubes with fat pins, in fact it's very common in the earlier AC radios, like to prevent people from putting a #26 tube in a #71A socket since both are four pin types running on different filament voltages. But after 2.5 volt tubes became common this was less of an issue since everything but the rectifier was the same voltage.
Regards
Arran

[RoyG]

Now that I look at the socket. A 25Z5 would not fit in the socked marked 25Z5.

[Joe Rossi]

I don't think a 43 would fit into the socket marked 43 either.  Hmmm...

[RoyG]

I don't think a 43 would fit into the socket marked 43 either.  Hmmm...

I think the following information from Radio Museum.org answers these questions.
"In 1935 Triad introduced a line of metal vacuum tubes with octal base in answer to the GE-RCA metal line. The early release of Triad line, with MG suffixes, included 13 types, all characterized by glass bulb inside a metal envelope."

The metal tubes in this set are Triad MG Series so they would have an octal base.

[JimZ]

I happened to be looking up a different model and remembered this thread.
One of these may well be really close

http://www.radiomuseum.org/m/pla-pal_usa_en_1.html

Not a big stretch to get from your cabinet to this one and the construction is similar

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pla_pal_652da652_d.html

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pla_pal_592a.html