Westinghouse 17TV7C

[MIPS]

This was a restoration project I started to run into troubles with. I was recommended here from another corner of the web.

The set was picked up from the side of the road with a FREE sign on it.



Never seen that much hardwood on a TV before. It's a combo unit too. TV, AM radio and record player. A stamp on the chassis says it was built April 28 1953. Both the cabinet and the chassis were built in Canada so it's no doubt this puts the set right when my grandfather used to service Westinghouse appliances.
The cabinet looks really bad but for the most part it was just the sun that did most of the damage. The stain on any exposed part rubs off your hand, that gasket hanging down is solid as a rock. the speaker grille fabric has been essentially bleached white and the tuning knob is clouding up.
Picture tube visually looks okay but we'll have ti find out later what all those years int he sun might of done to the phosphors.


The record player was seized up and very dirty when I received it. There was also oddly a lack of bolts and screws. Everything was either missing or mismatched.




The chassis looks okay. There wasn't a whole lot of dirt on it. The anode cable was hanging out of the H/V cage so the solder joint on the 8016's socket went bad. I'll have to run all the tubes through the checker though. The capacitors on the other hand are definitely in need of attention. I'll put it aside until the cabinet is repaired.

Anyways, so the cabinet needed a recoat. I sanded it down to bare wood and restained with several coats with the closest tint I could find. I think I settled on red Mahogany. I spent several days trying to source a new and identical replacement to the fabric but eventually I had to admit defeat and bought half a meter of the closest thing that they would of put on a TV in the 50's.




(I sure hope I have not made any mistakes yet. I've heard stories about botched restorations and people screaming sacrilege over it. I'm trying the best I can.)

The cabinet is almost restored however I'm having trouble with one of the extra pieces of detail. There used to be horizontal gold stripes and lettering and I'm not entirely sure how to reapply either. It wasn't the kind of thing I could sand around either. so I need ideas on how to paint it back on. Any of the old folks here have any secrets?




I also spent a bit of time cleaning up the record player. It all freed up with 3-in-1 and grease but the friction wheel was totally dead. I was able to replace it with a rubber O-ring but there's a problem with traction. None of the speeds are correct and the automatic arm loading/unloading is enough to completely bog down the turntable. Any ideas there for better traction?





There's also other random bits and pieces that need attention. I'm missing several knobs and have no idea where to find replacements.
Another thing I'm concerned about is the decal inside the glass. IS there anything I should brush on it to prevent it from flaking off?