Three new Admirals on my porch

[bgadow]

If I owned that Admiral, I'd just stack a VT-71 (or something) on top of it, and nobody would ever know!

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by mstaton

Nice sets!. Too bad about the bakelite. Good for parts i suppose

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

Hey, you joke, but to us Admiral-challenged collectors, that doesn't seem so crazy. It's a big hole, so you make a big patch. Then Bondo, primer, dark brown paint (on the whole cabinet), maybe one coat of clear, re-do the lettering, and you're home free.

Phil Nelson

Good idea, I like a challenge

Originally Posted by bgadow

If I owned that Admiral, I'd just stack a VT-71 (or something) on top of it, and nobody would ever know!

The sad part is that it was damaged very recently The seller thinks she has the broken out chunk, but couldn't find it. I'll check back periodically to see if it turns up.

[MelodyMaster]

I have a Canadian Admiral that looks just like that desktop, but it's in storage. The big difference is that the picture tube is smaller and rounder and the mask goes in deeper giving it more of an "eye" look.. The chassis is the same layout exactly, but of regular steel.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

Hey, you joke, but to us Admiral-challenged collectors, that doesn't seem so crazy. It's a big hole, so you make a big patch. Then Bondo, primer, dark brown paint (on the whole cabinet), maybe one coat of clear, re-do the lettering, and you're home free.

Phil Nelson

I was really just baiting Bob so we could all set back and watch in awe. Me on the other hand, no way could I pull that off with my short attention span.

[Phil Nelson]

Yah, I don't have as much patience for cabinet work as I once did. I wouldn't go out of my way to get a set with such a big defect, but if one fell in my lap, I'd probably feel guilty if I didn't try to salvage it. Blame it on my thrifty upbringing!

Phil Nelson

[Kevin Kuehn]

Here's my idea of an Admiral challenge.

Some previous owner mounted an external speaker switch in the side of this cabinet. Whatever tool they used, it apparently had the precision of an ice auger.

Now whyever they couldn't have mounted that switch around the back side someplace is beyond me.

[bgadow]

In my travels this weekend I spotted an empty cabinet for one of these:
http://www.tuberadioland.com/EmersonBY-233main.html
Besides tossing the chassis, they drilled a hole in the top and made it into a lamp! Other than that, it looked to be in very good condition.

[Kevin Kuehn]

That's a cute little radio. I think people (mostly guys) just like to drill holes in old stuff.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

That's a cute little radio. I think people (mostly guys) just like to drill holes in old stuff.

Yeah...I do..With a .45....(grin)

[MelodyMaster]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Here's my idea of an Admiral challenge.

Some previous owner mounted an external speaker switch in the side of this cabinet. Whatever tool they used, it apparently had the precision of an ice auger.

Now whyever they couldn't have mounted that switch around the back side someplace is beyond me.

Glue a bit of plastic behind the hole, fill the hole with plastic wood, paint..

[Kamakiri]

Admirals are common as water here. There must have been an Admiral plant in Buffalo or something.

Oddly enough, I sold one of those square-tubed bakelite tabletop sets on eBay to a collector in Norway for about $600 ten years ago on eBay. Wonder if it actually made it. He wanted it professionally packed, so I brought it to Mail Boxes Etc, where they put it in a cardboard box with tons of peanuts. I remember thinking, there's NO way this thing is going to make it in one piece......

[MelodyMaster]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Admirals are common as water here. There must have been an Admiral plant in Buffalo or something.

Oddly enough, I sold one of those square-tubed bakelite tabletop sets on eBay to a collector in Norway for about $600 ten years ago on eBay. Wonder if it actually made it. He wanted it professionally packed, so I brought it to Mail Boxes Etc, where they put it in a cardboard box with tons of peanuts. I remember thinking, there's NO way this thing is going to make it in one piece......

There was a major Admiral plant across the lake in Mississauga, formerly Port Credit, on Lakeshore Rd. from the 1940s until the late 1980s. Of the many Admiral TVs and radios I've picked up, including a 1957 colour set (C322C), about half had a paper sticker on the chassis or sitting loose in the cabinet saying "Made in Port Credit." New York and Ohio got their Admiral appliances from that Port Credit Ontario plant.

[kvflyer]

Bob,

Interesting to see that different "versions" of the same model were different. What I mean is that my 26R12 has a copper plated back cover and copper plated chassis. Yours seems to be cadmium plated? Mine has the same large sticker on the back, "26R12" and I attempted to duplicate it and print a new one. Got sidetracked but can do it later. Biggest problem seems to be that the printer ink is water soluble and it doesn't take much to destroy it. I intend to let the ink dry, then spray the paper with either varnish, poly or lacquer. That may seal it you think?

Anyway, nice projects...

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by kvflyer

Bob,

Interesting to see that different "versions" of the same model were different. What I mean is that my 26R12 has a copper plated back cover and copper plated chassis. Yours seems to be cadmium plated? Mine has the same large sticker on the back, "26R12" and I attempted to duplicate it and print a new one. Got sidetracked but can do it later. Biggest problem seems to be that the printer ink is water soluble and it doesn't take much to destroy it. I intend to let the ink dry, then spray the paper with either varnish, poly or lacquer. That may seal it you think?

Anyway, nice projects...

Maybe, certainly worth trying.
I have some opaque white water-slide decal paper I've used before to make these. They've held up well.


I think the chassis is just bare steel.
I also have this 26X56 model which has a copper plated chassis mounted vertically. It has a 16GP4 CRT.

Weird that they used both a circular 16GP4 and rectangular 16KP4 in the same model year. There's also a model with this same chassis and a 19AP4.
I plan on restoring all 3 sets at the same time.

[Reece]

I have a bakelite radio cabinet that has a sizeable chunk out of the bottom. I thought about using fiberglass and Bondo but decided to try something different. I had some acrylic of the sort used in storm doors. This comes in various thicknesses and the piece I chose was the same thickness as the bakelite. Some careful cutting and shaping and I had a "puzzle piece" that fit the bakelite perfectly. I glued it in with J-B Weld. Then it took some sanding to blend it in with the original surface. Auto body glazing compound could be used if needed, and the whole of course painted.

That's a pretty big chunk out of that TV cabinet but I'll bet if you had to, some acrylic backed with some ingenious stiffening bars would do it.