[Arran]

Mike;
That black "plastic" was probably rubber tubing once upon a time, but like most rubber products, U.V, ozone, and heat turn rubber into plastic. Another item your Philco has in common with Rogers radios, they too liked to put rubber sleaves over the shells of the pilot light sockets, half the time chunks fall off when you try getting the bulb out. Those eyelets and that tool is useful to know about since Philco liked to install their sockets the same way, and if someone mangled the tube shield base, needing replacement, using eyelets is the only clean way to do it.
Regards
Arran