I have ordered the proper
Re-Faux decals for my set. Today was a beautiful day to work outside, and to spray poly, so I decided to begin the prep of the cabinet for the photofinish. I first removed the trim piece at the bottom front, so the whole cabinet front was a single smooth surface. Then I began to block sand the old phtotfinish off with 180 grit sandpaper, followed by 220 grit as a finish sanding. I used a sanding block throughout to keep the surface as level as possible, especialy around the ribs and holes, although I did have to touch up around the speaker bolt holes by hand as they were slighly pulled into the surface. After sanding, I raised the grain with a rag dampened with water, let the surface dry again, and lightly sanded it smooth again. Then I shot it with the first coat of polyurethane. I will apply one more, and sand smooth before applying the decals when they come. Here are some pictures.
Well, I applied the Re-Faux Pro decals. I found that they do not quite align with my cabinet, the pattern printed on them was just a little bit too large, I think. It looks a bit better than it did, but that is about all that can be said of it. I have written Tony, to see what I can do about it. I figure I will have to re-do it at the very least, but unless I can get a set of decals that align better than these, I don't see much point. Here are pictures to show you what I mean. Be sure to look at the picture in the post above to see how things aligned originally.
I bought one for my 620 and I did not have any issues except it was hard to apply.
It looks fantastic but I just dont like the thickness. It has to be thick to not rip but I honestly feel like you could have saved the original. I got mine already removed so no saving that.
Beautiful job, but it is the tombstone model, and uses a different set of decals from the ones I had to use. The application would have gone quite smoothly if the size and alignment had been correct. The problems came because I had to keep trying to re-position the decal to get things to line up the best they could.I have no problem with the thickness of the decal material, personally. I just wish it had fit better.
I have been in touch with Tony at vintageradiolables.com about this, and he has been very responsive. He had to make the decals from photographs of the original radios for this model, since he did not have a cabinet to measure. He and I are working to get them right. Does anybody here know if the blueprints of the original front panels or the original faux finish decals exist ? If so, I would like to get them to Tony so he can better make these decals for us. This goes for any models, not just mine. I think such blueprints would be of GREAT help to him.
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2015, 05:01 PM by mikethedruid.)
mikethedruid Wrote:Does anybody here know if the blueprints of the original front panels or the original faux finish decals exist ?
You're kidding, right?
No, no blueprints exist. If they did, someone would have publicized them by now. Supposedly Philco's archives ended up in Dearborn at Ford's Historical Archives, now known as the Benson Ford Research Center. Their website does not list very much in the way of Philco material, and certainly no blueprints of anything.
Thanks for the information, Ron. If anybody would know it is you. I am sending Tony my cabinet so he can make exact measurements. He is a really nice guy, and very devoted to making these decals and labels to help us antique radio enthusiasts. He makes other labels and decals for antique radios too, and not just Philco. I figure once he gets the ones made for my radio, they should be good for the 37-60B also, and maybe the 37-34B and 37-89B from the pictures in the gallery, which would be a help to others in the future. I'll keep you all informed about developments.
Well, the cabinet went out today, parcel post, insured, signature required. First thing this morning I rode the Yamaha down to the packaging store. They were closed yesterday for the holiday. I got a box that gave me an inch or more on all sides for bubble wrap. LOL ! It was the biggest one he had. Anyway, I packed the cabinet well, so it is cushioned on all sides, and sent it off. Fingers crossed now that it gets there, and then back, in one piece. One good thing, for its size, the package feels very light since it is just the bare cabinet with no guts at all. That may make it suffer less in shipping. Ah, the things we do for this hobby of ours !
My cabinet came back home today safe and sound, along with the new, revised decals. I am going to wait to apply them until spring has come and things warm up again. I keep my house at 60F in the winter, and it is too cool to varnish really. I don't want to re-apply the decals before I can do the rest of the cabinet refinishing. I don't want to have it sit around after the application for months until it is warm enough to varnish, and risk damage from accidentally bumping it or something.
Brrrrrrrrr
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
