Pilot 'Little Maestro'

[Yorkie]

That's come up really well Dennis - thanks for the tip about Colron 'Liquid Scratch Remover'. It's interesting to note how fashions change - obviously at the time the cabinet was designed and initally made, brown Bakelite was still in fashion, but during the life of the production run, went out of fashion in favour of what today, we'd consider 'gaudy' tasteless colours. As a kid in the 40s and fifties, I recall that Bakelite was often seen as an inferior 'mass produced' substitute for 'the real thing' - wood. I thought that a bit odd in some ways in that it was used for all sorts of electrical fittings, including such things as door bell transformers, for which it seemed ideally suited.

I've said before that I've never been a fan of the DAC90A as we had one sat on a shelf in our living room from about the age of 8 to 18. I just thought of it as utilitarian and even back then, 'old fashioned' looking. But it's a fact that it was probably the most successful radio of its era - not because people queued up to buy them, but that they were put out on rental in their hundreds of thousands by the likes of Radio Rentals, which assured customers that they wouldn't be faced with costly repairs. Apart from that, when the DAC90A was introduced in 1948, most people were still using ageing unreliable pre-war sets, so there was a pent up demand for new sets.

The Wartime Civilian Receiver was something of a flop, and wasn't introduced until June 1944 when it was widely thought that the war would seen be at an end. The main benefit the receiver had was that as with all 'Utility' products, it was exempt from Purchase Tax. Initially the BBC asked for authorisation from the government for half a million to be produced, but permission was given for only 175,000 mains and 75,000 battery sets to be produced, which it transpired that due to the sets unpopularity, was about as many as could have been sold. It had poor reviews in the press.

I rather like the T105 and other sets in the Little Maestro range. One thing they have in common - whatever the style - is attractive and durable dials, and your reconstruction of your dial, as well as the refurbishment of the set, is top notch Dennis.