I won an 80-140 console a few months back, local pickup (these are unusual in So Cal), swapped out the rusted chassis for a better one which I restored, and it's complete with new repro push buttons from Renovated Radios.
I made station call tabs from the sheet offered here, having to cut individual letters and piece them together for several local stations that weren't around back then. I applied oil on the backs of each, then wiped them dry. It makes the paper more translucent.
The only thing left is to try and renovate the lettering above the knobs (Off-On-Bass, Volume, etc.) which have a black coating over the lettering. The "Pol" for Police Band above that knob is almost legible in gold, but the rest are black.
I know I can get decals from Radio Daze, but if there's something I can use to uncover the gold lettering, without destroying it or harming the wood finish, that would be preferable.
Suggestions welcome.
The first photo displays when I got it; notice the similarity under the belt-line with the Zenith 8S-463 in the background. Philco was first with the styling.
The other rusted chassis that originally came with the cabinet, I got working, and am offering it on the auction site as a BIN, OBO, with resistors in place of the field coil, and a PM speaker.
Some of the guys who are really good at cabinets may have some different thoughts but if its still the original decals with original lacquer finish, a little GoJo (without pumice) on a cotton swab with a light touch should get any dirt and grime off. After that you are down to the lacquer over the decal and I would think messing with that will only make things worse. A light swipe with lacquer thinner would take some of the lacquer off and might do what you are looking for.
If it were mine and I wasn't going to refinish it, I'd just do the GoJo cleaning. (they actually look pretty good to me as is)
I think you will require new decals if you want the labels to look shiny. The lettering is made from metallic pigment. and it tends to corrode with age.
I don't believe you can polish it to restore the luster once it has tarnished.
I kinda figured that, bright as they are. I'm gonna get some GoJo (I presume the hand creme W/O Pumice) and try that. If it still doesn't look up to snuff, then I may order the decals.
Got the GoJo, couldn't find any of the wife's Q-Tips, so used a toothbrush and Kleenex instead, but it did no good whatsoever. So, guess I'll be ordering the decals. At least I have the exact places to lay them on top of.
(03-30-2016, 04:33 PM)Ron Ramirez Wrote: Beware - the new decals do not use the same font as the originals, so it won't be a simple matter of laying new decals over old ones.
Actually I think that I'll just leave it as is.
The brilliance of the decals is a bit stronger than I want. If I could have "uncovered" the original lettering to a somewhat muted shade it would have been perfect.
(03-30-2016, 08:25 PM)DeckApe Wrote: I was just surprised to see a KOMO label in the rack. Didn't know the signal made it all the way from Seattle to California!
Not sure where you're located, but in SoCal we seem to be able to pick up an awful lot of signal both north and south after sundown.
KCBS & KGO/San Francisco and KFBK/Sacramento come booming in like locals, just to name three off the top of my head. KOMO can be heard every night, just not quite as strongly, along with KOH/Reno, KSL/Salt Lake & KOB Albuquerque, east of the Rockies.
I was originally going to install KFWB/980 on that preset, which converted from all news to all sports, but noticed lately that there was a foreign tongue coming through on that frequency.
Investigating on the net, I discovered that the station owners recently sold it to a foreign language entity. KOMO at 1000 Kc was nearby, so I chose them instead. At least I can understand them...
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