Barn fresh Philco 38-10 "bullet" radio - Videokarma.org TV - Video

radiotvnut · #1 11-24-2009, 04:57 PM

This one turned out to be my second CL find. This lady replied to a several week old CL wanted ad, saying she had a Philco radio from the '20's or '30's and that she wanted $75 for it. Today, she brought it by and I brought it to her attention how much work would be needed to bring it back and asked her if the price was open for discussion. She said to make her an offer and I offered $35. She thought a few minutes and asked if I'd give her $50, in which I replied "no, $35 is about as good as I can do". She then offered it for $40. I looked at it again and decided to get it. She said it belonged to her Grandmother and she was tired of moving it around. The cabinet will need to be refinished, the speaker cone needs to be patched, and one of the pots is frozen. It will, of course, need the usual caps, etc. The main thing I'm concerned with is what to do as far as the damaged photo finish on the front. Oh well, it will be something to play with over the next year or two.

bandersen · #2 11-24-2009, 07:22 PM

Awesome find

That model is the first radio I ever restored and it's still my favorite

I was lucky and my photofinish wasn't as bad as yours. First I cleaned it using mineral spirits. Then, I slowly used 0000 steel wool in some rough areas around the knobs. Finally, I used a little touch up markers in worn spots and put on a few coats of lacquer. Maybe you could use some some oil or acrylic paints to fill in the bad spots ?

I think it's a fairly easy radio to restore. Only 2 or 3 electrolytics and a few paper caps. Here's the schematic.

Just last night I was amazed to discover that renovatedradios now has reproduction knobs and even the rubber tuner capacitor mounts for this radio.

I've ordered some new speaker cloth for mine and I think I might order those mounts and give mine another going over. Three of my tubes are the original '38 tubes and the volume isn't so hot.

Here's what mine looked like before and after (haven't put the new cloth in yet).

Reece · #3 11-25-2009, 11:14 AM

I'm with Bandersen: I think your best bet is to clean up the photofinish, turn the cabinet front face up, and get to work with a strong light, magnifiers if needed, and a palette of acrylic artists' paints in the tones found on this radio. After all is dry then some satin finish lacquer on the front.