[klondike98]

Kirk, I'm sure you'll get a variety of responses from different folks but here are some of the early learning steps I took.
Read "Old Time Radios: Restoration and Repair" by Joseph Carr (especially the safety section pgs. 238-245).
Read "The All American Five Radio" by Richard McWhorter
Read http://www.antiqueradio.org/begin.htm by Phil Nelson
Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8wWw92HNZg by McWhorter
Watch some bandersentv episodes such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGhcvezH2...9ji2FUNYwg or his series on Model 60 restoration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpm5KfDWNo (Bob has a ton of great videos)
Continue learning by asking questions on the Phorum, reading more and working on simpler chassis first.

IMO your 84 would probably be easiest to start with. Here's a schematic to start with http://www.philcoradio.com/tech/images/84.jpg and here's a Service Bulletin at http://www.audiophool.com/Philco.html . Chuck Schwark may have additional info that would help for a nominal charge: http://www.philcorepairbench.com/schematics.htm
The black oblong boxes are bakelite capacitor blocks that need to have the caps replaced if they have not already been done. See: http://www.philcoradio.com/tech/blocks.htm and http://www.philcorepairbench.com/capbuild.htm for info on rebuilding/recapping them.

Others will surely chime in as well. Welcome to the Phorum!