[Ron Ramirez]

Thanks Greg. And may I add that the front panel of your T7-5 looks much better than the panel on my set. I think mine has second or third rate veneer while yours has a very nice pattern.

Well, kids, when ol' Uncle Ron last posted, I had just completed the first stage of toning - that is, spraying the whole thing Medium Walnut.

Since then I have attempted to two-tone the front columns and the bottom veneer on the sides, as well as the bottom trim.

First I tried Medium Brown Walnut. It did not seem to be having much of an effect so I then tried Dark Walnut. This only made the trim redder, which was not what I wanted. So today, I masked it all off again and sprayed a fairly light coat of Extra Dark Walnut (Ultra Classic, the toner with dye). It is still rather red to my liking, and there isn't much contrast at all between the darker sections of the front columns and the front panel since the front panel turned out quite red also even though I used Medium Walnut (Tone Finish, the pigmented toner) on it.

Here, "borrowed" from the Web, is an image of a T7-5 with its original finish. This is how I was trying to make mine look:

[Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...513%29.jpg]
Photo by Joe Haupt, posted to Wikimedia Commons

Now, after yet a third round of masking off and spraying toner - this time Extra Dark Walnut (Tone Finish) on the top shoulders, top trim, and the inset "stripes" at lower left and right - here is how mine now looks:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_115.jpg]

Things did not go without issue. When I removed the newspaper and green Frog tape after spraying the columns and bottom trim the second time, a piece of veneer came off from the lower left corner of the front panel!

After walking away from it for awhile, I returned and tried to remove the piece of veneer from the tape as best as I could. It came off and splintered into pieces, of course. I did manage to glue the pieces back into place but a very small chip had disappeared nonetheless. This was filled with a little bit of Timber Mate. The cracks that remained after gluing the veneer fragments were also filled with Timber Mate.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_116.jpg]

I will touch that up with a little Medium Walnut sprayed into a can lid, and will apply it with a tiny brush.

Now, after the third round of masking off and spraying the top shoulders and bottom left and right stripes, a little bit of finish pulled off at lower right of the front:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_117.jpg]

I will wet sand this area and then touch it up in the same manner as above.

All of my 2018 cabinet work has been a bit of a battle. But I'm slowly getting there. Next comes application of the band switch decal and the RCA Victor decal...then the start of clear lacquer.

Working on this cabinet has kept my mind occupied while I wait for the doctors to get moving with my cancer.