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Above, left: the 'Swan'as found. It had been worked
on by persons unknown and there was a legacy of mediocre workmanship
alongside an evident understanding of vintage electronics.
Left/centre: inside view as found. Right centre and right: close-up
of cabinet damage - missing veneer. |
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Above, left: non-original (plywood) wooden feet were
removed. Left/centre and right/centre: filling and levelling missing
sections. Right: the cabinet after stripping of the original finish,
including the painted Art Deco grille design. |
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Above, left: filling and levelling. Left/centre:
delaminated timber clamped and reglued. Right/centre and right:
cabinet ready for refinishing. |
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Above, left: chassis before stripping. Left/centre:
assorted parts removed and cleaned. Right/centre: view of
under-chassis before restoration. Right: during stripdown. This
process removed every component, down to bare metal. |
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Above, left: tuning capacitor clean-up. Left/centre:
the corroded reaction capacitor. Right/centre: reproduction control
knob. Right: de-rusting metal parts. |
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Above, left: the completely stripped chassis.
Left/centre: the repainted chassis. Right/centre: rebuild begins.
Right: top view of rebuilt chassis. |
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Above, left: Cleaning and derusting the mains
transformer clamp and laminations. Left/centre: underside of the
rebuilt chassis. Right/centre: a restored replacement energised LS
of the correct type and age. Right: rotted sleeving on mains
transformer wiring. |
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Above, left: severely rotted sleeving to valve cap.
Right/centre: the crudely painted escutcheon. This required stripped
and chemically ageing. Right: scale and slow-motion mechanism before
cleaning. |
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| Above, left and
left/centre: views of the finished upper chassis. Right/centre:
'new' set-back labels, based on an identical set - this receiver had
a home-made back panel. Right: repairs used tinted two-part wood
filler to match veneer, after poor results were obtained with
standard filler. |
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| Above, left:
primer-spraying the grille surround. Note the extensive masking.
Left/centre: making the new back panel in ply. Right/centre: cabinet
finished. Spray lacquered using a home-mix toning to blend and make
the repairs less obvious. Right: the completed 'Swan'. The veneer
had been sanded away in places at corners and edges previous to my
obtaining the set. This kind of damage is very difficult to conceal
and it does show slightly. The only way to improve this would have
been to re-veneer - but with the beauty of this timber, I discounted
that option and chose to live with something less than perfection,
but still a visual delight. |
| For a full account of
the restoration, see Radio Bygones issues 118 & 119. |
