10-12-2011, 10:23 AM
Excellent Andrew! The speaker grille looks as good as new too. Interesting that the GEC chose to disguise the Bakelite to make it look like wood. Bakelite radios and other Bakelite products seem to be quite sought after these days, and I wonder how many people appreciate that in its day, Bakelite was not generally highly regarded, but seen as a mass produced utilitarian product, and for radios, inferiour to wood, but it helped keep prices down and doesn't provide a home for woodworm!
Bakelite did have the advantage that it could be moulded into shapes that couldn't be made in wood - perhaps the best example being the KB 'Toaster'. (Tooling must have been hugely expensive though). Many Bakelite radios towards the end of the 50s were sprayed in brighter colours to disguise the fact that they were Bakelite. Melamine later displaced Bakelite for such things as plates, bowls and similar domestic items.
Bakelite did have the advantage that it could be moulded into shapes that couldn't be made in wood - perhaps the best example being the KB 'Toaster'. (Tooling must have been hugely expensive though). Many Bakelite radios towards the end of the 50s were sprayed in brighter colours to disguise the fact that they were Bakelite. Melamine later displaced Bakelite for such things as plates, bowls and similar domestic items.
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
