Philco 645 - Rust

[Winky Dink]

The electronic restoration isn't complete but the chassis is done, so I took some time to put together a few photos showing a good result and some techniques that were new to me. Many parts needed painting or less-than-authentic reproduction, so I gave little effort to preservation and went for "looks nice."

I posted the "before" picture previously, but here's what I started with…



…and here's the finished product.


In retrospect, I didn't need to reproduce vintage parts under the chassis, but I started it that way, and I like doing it. Mostly it was routine stuff, like making dog bone resistor replacements:


Just to find out how it would work, I transformed a Motorola cap into a Philco to replace the raunchiest looking cardboard tube. It worked well, but the adhesives I tried on the paper all came loose when I coated the cap with melted wax. The paper is held on only by the wax coating. If the wax gets too warm, the paper will come loose:



I've restuffed cans before, but this is the first time I needed to make new ones. Rather than try to find authentic Philco cans, I did the best I could with materials on hand…



.. and it looks OK both above and below the chassis:



The shadow meter was entirely new to me. I'm fortunate that this one actually works--at least it shows that it responds to signal by moving the vane. I understand that it doesn't actually move much unless the AVC is operating.



As the sun sets, the radio fills the room with a comforting, warm glow, but my wife thinks the fireplace is more romantic. I'll never understand women.