I had some time this afternoon to pull the chassis. Loads of nesting material and poop, but it's actually not bad underneath. The inside of the cabinet is a bit nasty though. I'll disinfect it and seal with shellac or something similar.
I do believe this masonite back is original even though many other examples have a metal back. My 8T241 has a very similar masonite back and it's just too well made. I suspect it was a cost saving change made later in the production run.
The front comes off easily after removing two small wood screws. THat allowd me to remove the 10BP4 CRT. It is branded RCA Victor and looks ancient. Very likely the original.
At first it showed absolutely zero signs of emissions although the filament glowed just fine. Reflowing the pins didn't help. I was about to give up when in desperation it started tapping the neck. Suddenly it sprang to life. After running about 15 minutes, the emissions were in the green. After power cycling, it was dead again. I suspect an open cathode in which case I migh tbe able to reweld it.
Here's the chassis.
Nowhere near as bad as I feared underneath.
I'll ponder how best to tackle it while I wrap up some other projects
