RCA Victor 280 rescued at e-dump
 

I was there to drop off three CRT monitors, vintage because they were made in Japan and one was a Commodore. As I was pulling up to the loading area, a 6-legged lowboy appeared. Since this was an electronic waste facility, I went back to the office and asked if I could take the "wood item" away for them.

The manager agreed and I picked it up and noticed everything was there, even the wood veneer, some of which lifted. The tambour doors were open and they closed easily, revealing the correct finish color. :yes:
It had been in the weather as the cabinet needs both glue and finish restoration. It has some odd tubes for a 1933 model; PP 59 outputs, PP type 8 with interstage transformers. Ill post some pictures next,

Camera is AWOL but here is the link to a 280 http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=5629 separate bass and treble in center, bandswitch above movie-dial and RF-amp bias level on left, labeled as "Supressor" that supplements the AVC

"movie-dial" on an RCA? I don't think so.

Good job!
 

Thank you for saving it- It deserves a better fate:thmbsp:

Well, I do have a GE H51 made by RCA and it does have the movie dial.
This RCA has a round conical dial that has the small window and Ill get a backlit photo of it.
I reattached loose veneer glued and clamped it last night. Id hate to cut some of those contours to match surrounding area using patches.

There is something really unique about this set so Ill put some early effort in. Its a good rescue job but a good bit of work also.

A backlit celluloid strip is not the same as a movie dial which has a projected image onto a frosted glass surface.

I looked it up on Nostalgia Air website. They only show the schematic and parts list.
A rather impressive set, to be sure. It must've been the TOTL that year.
I never seen 59's used much in RCA's. Zenith seemed to use them more.

Re-attachment of veneer went well using pipe clamps. Some will need to be patched but all the funky contours were saved :)
Some wood-fill will be necessary and an overall stain will also be needed before lacquer is sprayed.
I should have some pics up soon.

Who in their right mind would recycle that??? Great save!

Here it is as found - very soggy and some loose veneer on top

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/510/18...1c5e39b7df.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/288/18...daaa40845c.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/548/19...31c978e2_z.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/511/19...df8dc175_z.jpg

Working on a clampdown for saving the veneer

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/561/18...55a6678192.jpg

Ooooh that's nice!! :)

There is something grand about those early 30s sets. I need to mention what was left behind and I regret not taking some photos of it.

A Bradford (sold by WT Grant stores) Color TV / Stereo console combination was also there. It was "weathered" as well.
A grand mediterranean cabinet with a 25" CRT and what appeared from the back cover to be an RCA clone chassis, the radio and TV controls were together under the right lid.
I once had a Muntz similarly equipped, but it was very compact and 6x9 speakers were on the sides of the single width cabinet.

They offered it to me also but I only had room in the truck for one treasure:sigh:

The RCA Victor Model 280 was one of RCA's top of the line models for 1933. It was advertised as a "12 tube Bi-Acoustic" receiver. It's a very impressive set. Can you imagine the history that was heard through this set? I hope to find a nice example some day.

Gilbert