William Englebert Fahrenfeld and his TV

[vts1134]

I recently purchased reproduction radio push buttons as they were completely missing. The connecting rod that holds the buttons onto the radio bezel was also missing so I fabricated a replacement rod as well. After installing them onto the set I was unhappy with the results. I just couldn't stand having such a visible part of the set not being original when the rest is almost perfect. Long story short I returned the replicas and started searching for originals. I managed to find them on an RCA radio of the same time period. Here is the radio bezel with the push buttons on it, this picture shows the connecting rod and the snap ring that holds it in place.



It was tough getting all of the push buttons off of the connecting rod as it had rusted a bit. After some lubrication and elbow grease the buttons were removed from the donor radio bezel.



Unfortunately as you can see in the picture one of the plastic covers was snapped in half. I also managed to find NOS push button labels including a "television" label to complete the bezel. I tried to use New York stations that would have been on the air in the 1939-1944 time period. I wonder what station William and his family listened to when they bought the set. I was one label and plastic cover short so I added a KDKA label in honor of the set's new home.

[decojoe67]

The set is looking great! Keep an eye for RCA radios with a good bezel. It's possible. I have come across them here and there.
Thanks for sharing all the pics. I've been a radio/TV collector for many years and the TRK-5 is the "Holy Grail" to me. The TRK-9 has a more impressive cabinet, but it's rather large. The TRK-5 truly has the proportions of a radio console of the era which makes it so great to me. I give you credit for keeping it original. I would be dying to see the set come to life again!
Here's a video on YT of one playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIkWOa16wo

[vts1134]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

The set is looking great! Keep an eye for RCA radios with a good bezel. It's possible. I have come across them here and there. Thanks for sharing all the pics.

I'm perfectly happy with the bezel. It has shrunk a bit and cracked on the upper left hand side around a screw, but other than that it's quite acceptable I think.
I think this hobby is so much better when we all share. I know how much I love seeing pictures when other's share them.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by vts1134

I'm perfectly happy with the bezel. It has shrunk a bit and cracked on the upper left hand side around a screw, but other than that it's quite acceptable I think.
I think this hobby is so much better when we all share. I know how much I love seeing pictures when other's share them.

I agree that your bezel is fine as-is. I meant to say that you just might come across a set with a perfect bezel (as tough as it may be) for a decent price and you could just swap. I am really looking forward to seeing all assembled! Good luck with it.

[vts1134]

Made a bit more progress to the set today. The original safety glass in front of the CRT face had developed spots between the layers of glass. I had a local glass shop custom cut me a new piece of safety glass for the set. I also had the paint color matched in a small sample sized can of paint. I purchased a paint sprayer for the paint, and finally I had a local decal shop print off a paint mask for the CRT "window."





After 4 coats of paint the mask looks pretty solid. I had to use an X-Acto knife to cut around the edge of the decal to release the paint. After some clean up with the knife the reproduction part looks really good.



The color is off by just a slight bit, but you would have to have an original bezel side by side to notice at all.
With this fix the "top half" of the set is complete. I only have a few repairs to the television chassis to go and I can share complete pictures and call the set finished.

[vts1134]

I managed to finish the TRK-5 (for now). The last two steps were replacing two of the capacitors with originals (thank you to Steve McVoy for these), and replacing the fine tuning shaft (thank you to Darryl for help with this). I had a fine tuning shaft retooled from a solid piece of brass. I thought about "aging" the shaft to make it look like the other shafts on the set, but I decided I have lots of time and I'll let the piece age gracefully. I put the whole set back together tonight and I can finally share pictures of the whole set with all of you.

[vts1134]

I also managed to find an original advertisement for the TRK-5 from 1939 that I had framed to hang above the set. I think it makes a nice touch.