Replica Ekco A22T (A22 export model)

[Yorkie]

Really great stuff Robert... your perserverance is inspirational.

I found the use of colour swatches most interesting as I too have created dials. See BVWS Bulletin 2009 Autumn. Some were only black or pretty basic colours that were easy to match by eye. Of course how much have the colours changed with time but you can only match to what you have.

For a silk screened dial for an HMV 650 / 655 I was in the hands of the screener and it was up to him to do the best he could to an original but damaged dial. Actually the result he achieved is amazingly close to my eyes, so well done to him.

Now a plug I still have a few dials left from the small quantity I had made (CNC glass + screening) so if anyone wants one please get in touch. When they have gone there will be no more.

cheers Gary

As with Robert's outstanding A22 dials, created from a 'blank sheet of paper' so to speak, and featured in the Bulletin with Robert's splendid A22 total restoration, your article in the Autumn 2009 Bulletin 'Making Dials' took us to a new level, exploring the use of decals (water-slide transfers), 'window film' and the screen printing of the HMV650 dials. It's one thing to patiently clean up a scan of an old dial, it's quite something else to use CAD software to create a brand new replica dial, getting all the legends in the right place, the right size, the right font, and the right colour.

As with Robert's Ecko dials, your HMV650 dial is so distinctive, and such an important eye-catching part of the set, that without it, however much effort is put into the unseen work on the chassis, the set is never going to look its best, and in some cases, will basically only be fit for spares. I have an Ekco AC77 which I was intending to restore, but as often happens with that set, the white markings have flaked off the dial glass, and given that white can't be printed on a conventional printer, it's a non runner. Same goes for a nice little Bakelite Marconi set.

In the case of your HMV650 dial Gary, your article in Autumn 2010 Bulletin on the total restoration of that radio, including issues with the IFTs, and lining up with a wobbulator and scope, was highly informative and a very interesting read. Forum members who are BVWS members will know that like Robert and Colin ('Retired'), you've been a prolific writer in the BVWS Bulletin for several years, including your Gecophone 'Stork' loudspeaker restoration in the latest Bulletin which hit my doormat yesterday. It's not easy to single out particular favourite articles, but if I had to chose one of yours Gary, I think it would be the 8-page article on your total restoration of an Ekco AC97 in Autumn 2008.

As with articles by Colin, Tony Thompson, (Aerodye), and Robert, these detailed well researched articles cover all the tricky, seemingly insurmountable problems, such as speaker repairs, cabinet repairs, dead sets, rusty chassis, missing knobs and so forth, inspiring the rest of us to tackle ambitious tasks that we'd never have contemplated had it not been for what we glean from the experiences of skilled restorers such as yourselves.

I don't know if it ever crosses the minds of many who might wonder how much authors are paid for the splendid Bulletin articles. The answer is simple - didly squat - not a single penny.

So thanks guys, and thanks for being active members of this friendly little meeting place for like-minded consenting adults who get their thrills from restoring what - to others - is junk, fit only for landfill. Till they see the end result that is!