Posted 12 years ago
BillsKid
(1 item)
The photo shows its present condition; it goes, and I intend to tidy it up.
An unusual feature of this radio is that it has a factory painted top and base instead of a full woodgrain finish, the paint being an obscure greenish colour which shows up faithfully in the photo.
The hard part will be finding new paint for the top and base, it might have been a 'company colour'? A fine sanding of the surface should reveal the original tint for colour matching. I know not to sand the "wood grain" as it might come off and I have purchased one of those small aerosol spray kits to do a perfect paint and varnish job on it.
It has the original 230Va.c. plug and cord.
It has a 5-band lateral dial for New Zealand.
It is not small:-General Dimensions: 21"Wx15"Hx10.5"D (540x380x270)
The radio was a grab-it-now purchase at a junk shop in Rotorua NZ for $50 (NZ$60) in 1996. When restored it will have pride of place in my sitting room where it will be used as a radio!
I think it is a great design and has character.
Hiyah, small chance you'd get this message (thought I'd still try), but I've recently bought a model 732 (in pretty poor condition) and I'd love to restore it but I can't find any schematics :(. Was wondering if you had any luck in this area or if you could help me out. Cheers :)
Hi - like only a few people I have not changed my internet provider, so I can still be found!
I'm sure I saw something on the net for circuitry - anyway - there are 'radio-hams' etc out there that do fix old radios, and the circuitry is quite basic unlike modern stuff so diagrams are not essential, just useful. Even new valves are still available so don't give up, find a radio 'buff'. Try a local Ham Radio Group.
I turned my Philco 732 on last year, it 'lit-up' but didn't go. In my case, the radio is most likely not going because of a dodgy joint or sum-such so I'll have to buy a large size PLASTIC knitting needle so I can gently/gingerly poke all solder joints with the power on. This is after carefully pulling out the valves and looking for pin corrosion, twiddling the knobs etc. Because of 'age' problem could be anything wrong - like an internally disintegrated resistor. If it doesn't go after all this, including a few gentle knocks, I'll find a hobbyist-fixer.
Hope this approach is useful to you.
Of all things to hand, I still have a reel of waxed string made for radio dials.
Colin, New Zealand.
It's a cool radio, hope it picks up a few more loves.
Thanks for that! Amazed I could get ahold of you! I s'pose I'll keep checking for diagrams. Would be no issue to restore it; except the capacitors in it are so far gone (Must've started leaking a few decades ago) I can't even read off them! Did you ever get the exterior of your one repaired? Would love to see how it turned out!
Cheers, Mark :)
To "DarMarMar" member:-
PHILCO MANUALS:- here is a sample listing off eBay for manuals on CD,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1919-to-1953-RCA-ZENITH-PHILCO-RADIO-BIBLE-SERVICE-MANUAL-DVD-HUGE-/380785794417?hash=item58a89a1d71,
"Philco manuals" search brought up over 800 listings to work through.
I bought a similar CD but there are a few thousand pages on it (285Mb!) so have not found my model on it yet....... I should check eBay occasionally in case there is a specific original manual listed.
The speaker cone on this radio is in mint condition and won't need replacing.
CAPACITOR on this 230V model says "40-40-20, Red outer 40, Yellow 40, 350Vmax working, 425V surge, BEC CE 836". There is only one exposed capacitor on the chassis. I'll list another photo (today?) showing the inside if I can see how to do that. Write again if more info needed.
Closest match to original paintwork is "Forest Green", barcode number "9 418651 201027". I should restore the case soon as I have one of those re-usable "ColorPak" hobby spray units (Part CJS120) barcode 9 417528 001012, great for small and medium spray jobs - no need now to use nearest spray-can colour. I will list a restored photo of the radio soon.
To "fortapache" member:- Yes, 'cool' looking radio - I saw it in a junk shop window and had to buy it. It must just pre-date the BakeLite case models. Annoyingly, what I call 'junk shops' that sold fascinating old stuff are mostly closed down now, and the same goes for antique shops who now deal 'on-line'. The main on-line seller in NZ for old radios is on http://www.trademe.co.nz/ if you want to browse for pictures.
Colin, New Zealand.
Just came across this and thought I would ask if I could possibly get a photo of the under side so I can try to figure out some of the new parts I need to get for mine one I'm restoring. Due to mine not having to many labels on the capacitors and resistors.