27-05-2011, 10:40 AM
A few more pics and a bit more waffle.
I should add that from serial number 110001 the set became the FB10/2, which - though indentical in appearance - had a different valve-line up. This one was an FB10/2. I've included a pic of a stand I made from scrap timber as I always do whatever set I'm working on. Most sets are much easier to work on if you have some sort of stand on which to rest the chassis or you risk damaging something such as a valve, ferrite rod aerial, the tuning mechanism, or whatever. It's only a few minutes work to knock one up from scrap timber.
As I said earlier, this particular set was tired looking, and I don't think it could have been brought back to its original finish with cleaning and polishing, which can't overcome the fading which takes place with exposure to sunlight over the years. Hence, I had no qualms about over-spraying it, though with hindsight, I'd be happier with the end result had I had an aerosol mixed to a chosen shade of green, rather than having to choose from a limited range of modelling paints, which - when applied and dried, look quite different from when they're put into the airbrush bottle. The fist green was far too garish, the second, is a bit insipid, but it's freshened the set up.
It isn't easy to remove the dial as it's held onto brittle plastic pegs with spring clips which aren't meant to be removed. I got three off, but one bakelite peg snapped off. I overcame that by drilling into the cabinet where the peg had been, with a PCB type drill, then tapped it 6BA and fitted a pan head screw. When I put the dial and rear vent back on, I used a glue gun to put a few blobs of glue on for added security.
The pic of the finished set isn't very good - it was taken indoors and the colours aren't a very true representation - the speaker cloth looks more turquoise than in reality.
Luckily, I had another FB10 to look at to see how the dial is strung, as the diagram on the Trader Sheet isn't too descriptive. These are nice litle sets - very well designed with no vices. The FB10 came out in Sept 1950 and was described as an 'occasional' or 'transportable' receiver. The term 'occasional' didn't mean to be used only 'occasionally' now and then, but every day for whatever occasion it was needed - in a living room, taken up to the bedroom, in the kitchen, or dining room. Light in weight, with a carrying grip which doubled as a rear ventilation slot, and no need for an aerial or earth. Some of the design features far transcend similar radios of the day - notably, the DAC90A which came out a few months before the FB10. Particular attention was paid to heat reduction by proper ventilation, and more particularly, the use of an autotransformer rather than a mains dropper as used i the DAC90A. Hence, much less heat is generated, which is kinder to components, and reduces drift. Even the dial has a ventilation slot all the way around it, and the dial light does a proper job of illuminating the dial, with one easily obtainable 6.3C 0.3A bulb, which travels along ther dial with the pointer. Furthermore, it has a ferrite rod aerial, unlike the frame aerial of the DAC90A. All in all, a very cleverly designed and neat little radio.The prices of the two sets were:
DAC90A Feb 1950: £12.1s.8d + 33% Purchase Tax = £16.10s. Equivalent to £430 at today's prices
FB10 Sept 1950 £8.17s.1d + 33% Purchase tax = £11.16s. Equivalent to £310.
The reason that there are so many DAC90As around isn't so much that that they sold well - many working class people couldn't afford to buy a set in 1950, and instead, rented one. Thus, DAC90As were rented out in their hundreds of thousands by the likes of Radio Rentals well into the late 50s, which is why they're so commonplace.
KB received a big boost to their reputation when they were chosen to install all the internal radio communication equipment in the Queen Mary and KBs publicitiy capitalised on the prestige that came with its association with a luxury cruise liner - 'Why not make KB your choice of receiver too?'.
'Kolster Brandes' sounds foreign - Germanic even. It was foreign, but it certainly wasn't German! Few Brits would have bought a German radio so soon after the war, any more than they'd have bought Japanese, and Germany was still getting back on its feet from being flattened. KB was descended from a Canadian Company 'Brandes', set up in 1908 in Toronto, which in 1924 set up a Brtish subsidiary, Brandes Ltd in Slough to produce headphones, then later, papier mache horns, paper speaker cones, and simple radio kits. In 1930 a tobacco company (Godfrey Phillips) arranged a deal for the KB 'Materpeice' 2-valve receiver tobe distributed as a 'free gist' to promote the sale of their 'Dark Virginia' cigarretes. To get a free radio, you had to spend £12.10s (£12.50) to buy 500 packets of ten cigarettes! 40,000 receivers were comissioned by Godfrey Phillips!
By 1928 the parent company had been renamed Kolster Radio Corporation, so the brand became Kolster Brandes, had outgrown its Slough factory and mocve to Footscray in Kent. At one stage it emplyed more than 200 people, prduced more than 2000 sets a day, and some sets had very long production runs - more than 250,000 of the 'Pup' in two versions -battery & mains, were sold. I an odd publicity picture in 1934, a femal bargee (canal water gypsy) was shown posing with a KB radio perched (the radio that is - not the lady!) on the roof of a canal barge. What's that all about?
Enough already!
Hope these ramblings and the pics are of interest.
David
I should add that from serial number 110001 the set became the FB10/2, which - though indentical in appearance - had a different valve-line up. This one was an FB10/2. I've included a pic of a stand I made from scrap timber as I always do whatever set I'm working on. Most sets are much easier to work on if you have some sort of stand on which to rest the chassis or you risk damaging something such as a valve, ferrite rod aerial, the tuning mechanism, or whatever. It's only a few minutes work to knock one up from scrap timber.
As I said earlier, this particular set was tired looking, and I don't think it could have been brought back to its original finish with cleaning and polishing, which can't overcome the fading which takes place with exposure to sunlight over the years. Hence, I had no qualms about over-spraying it, though with hindsight, I'd be happier with the end result had I had an aerosol mixed to a chosen shade of green, rather than having to choose from a limited range of modelling paints, which - when applied and dried, look quite different from when they're put into the airbrush bottle. The fist green was far too garish, the second, is a bit insipid, but it's freshened the set up.
It isn't easy to remove the dial as it's held onto brittle plastic pegs with spring clips which aren't meant to be removed. I got three off, but one bakelite peg snapped off. I overcame that by drilling into the cabinet where the peg had been, with a PCB type drill, then tapped it 6BA and fitted a pan head screw. When I put the dial and rear vent back on, I used a glue gun to put a few blobs of glue on for added security.
The pic of the finished set isn't very good - it was taken indoors and the colours aren't a very true representation - the speaker cloth looks more turquoise than in reality.
Luckily, I had another FB10 to look at to see how the dial is strung, as the diagram on the Trader Sheet isn't too descriptive. These are nice litle sets - very well designed with no vices. The FB10 came out in Sept 1950 and was described as an 'occasional' or 'transportable' receiver. The term 'occasional' didn't mean to be used only 'occasionally' now and then, but every day for whatever occasion it was needed - in a living room, taken up to the bedroom, in the kitchen, or dining room. Light in weight, with a carrying grip which doubled as a rear ventilation slot, and no need for an aerial or earth. Some of the design features far transcend similar radios of the day - notably, the DAC90A which came out a few months before the FB10. Particular attention was paid to heat reduction by proper ventilation, and more particularly, the use of an autotransformer rather than a mains dropper as used i the DAC90A. Hence, much less heat is generated, which is kinder to components, and reduces drift. Even the dial has a ventilation slot all the way around it, and the dial light does a proper job of illuminating the dial, with one easily obtainable 6.3C 0.3A bulb, which travels along ther dial with the pointer. Furthermore, it has a ferrite rod aerial, unlike the frame aerial of the DAC90A. All in all, a very cleverly designed and neat little radio.The prices of the two sets were:
DAC90A Feb 1950: £12.1s.8d + 33% Purchase Tax = £16.10s. Equivalent to £430 at today's prices
FB10 Sept 1950 £8.17s.1d + 33% Purchase tax = £11.16s. Equivalent to £310.
The reason that there are so many DAC90As around isn't so much that that they sold well - many working class people couldn't afford to buy a set in 1950, and instead, rented one. Thus, DAC90As were rented out in their hundreds of thousands by the likes of Radio Rentals well into the late 50s, which is why they're so commonplace.
KB received a big boost to their reputation when they were chosen to install all the internal radio communication equipment in the Queen Mary and KBs publicitiy capitalised on the prestige that came with its association with a luxury cruise liner - 'Why not make KB your choice of receiver too?'.
'Kolster Brandes' sounds foreign - Germanic even. It was foreign, but it certainly wasn't German! Few Brits would have bought a German radio so soon after the war, any more than they'd have bought Japanese, and Germany was still getting back on its feet from being flattened. KB was descended from a Canadian Company 'Brandes', set up in 1908 in Toronto, which in 1924 set up a Brtish subsidiary, Brandes Ltd in Slough to produce headphones, then later, papier mache horns, paper speaker cones, and simple radio kits. In 1930 a tobacco company (Godfrey Phillips) arranged a deal for the KB 'Materpeice' 2-valve receiver tobe distributed as a 'free gist' to promote the sale of their 'Dark Virginia' cigarretes. To get a free radio, you had to spend £12.10s (£12.50) to buy 500 packets of ten cigarettes! 40,000 receivers were comissioned by Godfrey Phillips!
By 1928 the parent company had been renamed Kolster Radio Corporation, so the brand became Kolster Brandes, had outgrown its Slough factory and mocve to Footscray in Kent. At one stage it emplyed more than 200 people, prduced more than 2000 sets a day, and some sets had very long production runs - more than 250,000 of the 'Pup' in two versions -battery & mains, were sold. I an odd publicity picture in 1934, a femal bargee (canal water gypsy) was shown posing with a KB radio perched (the radio that is - not the lady!) on the roof of a canal barge. What's that all about?
Enough already!
Hope these ramblings and the pics are of interest.
David
