[Winky Dink]

You guys are driving me nuts. Every time I think I've reached my best possible outcome, I find there's something better. It's not fair--you keep raising the bar!

Here's my finish on the 645K. The darker wood trim may not be authentic, but I first tried showing the wood grain with a lighter finish and I didn't like it at all. I simultaneous sprayed light and dark brown toner, and the result looks richer and deeper than a single opaque lacquer. In fact, it looks like Bakelite that's trying to look like wood.

[Image: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4GeMr...520645.jpg]

This took weeks to finish with 6 to 12 lacquer coats with frequent 320-grit sanding between coats. The top two coats were sprayed on, leveled with 400, then 600 wet sanding, then rubbed with Novus 3, finally polished with Novus 2. Novus is one of Phil Nelson's favorites for plastic and Bakelite, but it seems to work well on lacquer.

[Image: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rPoTZ...520645.jpg]

The crowning touch is the decal. I've followed Ron's discussions about the authenticity decal fonts, sizes, and colors. Fortunately the original decal was unscathed. I kept it covered when stripping the old finish, then gave the decal area a few coats of lacquer for protection, and covered it again until the last few lacquer coats were applied.

[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QIWwy...520645.JPG]

There are a few flaws (my pride doesn't allow me to point them out), but overall it looks good and I've learned the benefits of hand-rubbing the finish. Now, I'm going to have to redo some of the finish on last year's Radiola 28 to meet the new standard.

Thanks to all who have shared their cabinet refinishing techniques on the Phorum.