My Second Radialva Groom Restore

[Bushbaby]

wow John,
Fabulous work, you must be really pleased with them.

Rob

[Geaney]

Excellent end result John - Ben Djikman did a splendid job on the new glass dial - you can see how well it stands out in comparison to the original.

Hi David, yes it would have been a bit of a damp squid without Ben's contribution. Long may he keep it up! There was virtually no text left on the other dial.

Cheers, John

[Geaney]

wow John,
Fabulous work, you must be really pleased with them.

Rob

Thanks Rob, yes it's been a long project but I'm delighted with the results. If memory serves my neighbour popped round with the original set around June of 2012.
Cheers, John

[Geaney]

Well done John. Good effort and now nice looking radios: much more attractive than a DAC 90 in my opinion.

Gary

Thanks Gary, well I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They look nice though I wouldn't relish having to repeat the painting of those white stripes any time soon!
Cheers, John

[Radio Fixer]

I guess you hand painted those John ?

Here's a radio (Beethoven) that I masked off and sprayed the lines. It looks like a satin cream, certainly not white. I always find that on close inspection the lines never look completely uniform hand painted by me. Even the circles on the knobs were done this way.. Masking off need not be super accurate as excess can be polished off with a polish (Solvol Autosol for me) and a lint free cloth (well washed old hankies) over a block of wood. One day I will do an article for this radio. It was given to me and really was in beautiful condition, apart from dirt etc and lots of new caps.

   

Gary

[Geaney]

I guess you hand painted those John ?

I always find that on close inspection the lines never look completely uniform hand painted by me.

Gary

Hi Gary, that's a lovely set for sure. In my case the challenge was that the grooves do not have clean edges so masking off would still give a very uneven result. In the end it was easier (albeit more tedious) to hand paint and dress the groove edges as best I could. Of course I could have tried to repair the groove edges prior to painting - it did not occur to me at the time. Perhaps I'll get back to it at some point in the future.

Cheers, John

[Yorkie]

On the occasions when I've needed to do any lining or when freshening up markings on Bakelite knobs, I've used enamel modelling paint (either UK made 'Humbrol', or US paint by Revell), applied with a soft brush. I paint it into the grooves, not worrying too much if it goes where I don't want it, then when dry or almost dry, I use a cotton cloth with enamel thinners (not cellulose of course), and wipe off the surplus. To tone things down a bit you can get colours such as 'antique white' which aren't so garish and new lookin,. The end result looks neat.