My New RCA 630TS
 

This is the set that was covered in plaid fabric that I saw on Phoenix CL last night. I removed all of that crap as soon as I got it home, figuring the set has been subjected to that abuse long enough. It looked like the upholstery work was done many, many years ago by a previous owner based on the condition of the cloth and the oxidation on the hundreds of upholstery tacks holding the fabric in place, about every inch or so. They actually took apart the top of the cabinet so that they could wrap the whole thing and have most of the tacks hidden on the inside and on the bottom. Unfortunately, they also did some upholstery tacks around the outside edges in the front. I can patch the inside and bottom holes with some wood putty and do a light stain. I can probably patch the holes on the outside front edges with wood putty or a patch stick from the hardware store and then some darker stain on those spots to match the original finish. The top and sides are actually in pretty good shape and might not need refinishing, probably because they've been covered with that hideous cloth for the past 40 years and it's protected the finish to some degree. The worst part is the cloth was glued over the front where the decals for the control are. They're still there, but there's a layer of glue on the whole front of the set. I have no idea what kind of glue was used, or if there's a way to remove it and retain the original finish underneath it.

The set is 100% complete. It has all the knobs, the high voltage cage is intact, the front glass and trim is there and undamaged, and the 10BP4 is a little weak but probably usable. I'm waking it up at 7V for a couple of hours.

Hey nice! You've got a lot to work with there!

What kind of a moron would upholster a TV Set? I don't get it.:smoke:

A designer at RCA? Remember that some late 40's electrical and
overall shape children of the 630TS were essentially upholstered.

Well, it looks like I got lucky. The glue that was used to hold the plaid fabric onto the front of the TV is soluble with denatured alcohol, and the alcohol will not damage the original finish or remove the factory decals for the adjustment controls. This means that all I have to do is carefully remove the glue with some cotton cloth and the alcohol and then touch up the original finish. Of course, I'll still need to fix the tack holes, but those are on the corners and I can hide the repairs pretty easily. Here are some pictures. The picture on the left shows the side with most of the glue removed (about an hour's work), and the picture on the right shows the other side which has not.

Some people do not deserve to have certain things, since they apparently can't take care of them properly.

Did you take a photo when it was still covered in fabric? Just curious.

Phil Nelson

Glad you saved it and were able to clean off that glue :)

There's a picture from the CL ad in the Curbside forum showing the "highlander" look..

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=264276

I think that's early "Shabby Chic".

Good luck getting that historic set back in shape. The 630 is very underrated with collectors mostly likely due to it's size. It's a must-have set in a radio/TV collection in my opinion.

Great job saving this set. Great performer well worth the time and restoration. Can't believe someone thought this looked good. It had to be destracting watching tv with all of those lines around it.

Scott

Perhaps someone decided to "modernize" the look of this set in the 70s.

This set will look great sitting next to my Fada 930.

There are 2 Mercedes sitting/rotting in a field about 20 miles south of my house. One is an early S-class, 4 door, circa 1968-69, no extraordinary value, unless it was a V-8. The other is one of the 1963-71 "Pagoda" roof coupe/roadsters again, not too valuable unless its a later, bigger motor version. But they STILL deserve better than to rot in a field, if you know what I mean..