Pilot 'Little Maestro'

[Joe]

Thanks for that, Dennis. Duly added.

- Joe

[dennishoy]

Thanks, Joe.

I've progressed a bit further, leaving the chassis until last to avoid rushing the rest and making mistakes.

Most of the black paint came off the back by leaving it out in the damp shed to soften, then carefully rubbing the edges with an old credit card to remove the paint.
The back was then placed under a heavy weight while still damp to flatten it and allowed to dry for a couple of days. The back had started to 'laminate' at the edges like an old roof slate so I rubbed some 'French Polish' (diluted 50/50 with methylated spirits) into the edges to strengthen it. I also did the same to the back panel to prevent pfurther damage to the cable, panel fixing and ventiliation holes.

The knobs were stripped of black paint by soaking in warm methylated spirits for an hour and rubbing with a finger while still wet. The knurled edges cleaned out easily with a wooden cocktail stick.

The case was stripped using 'Nitromors' and another coat of white paint was found under the top layer of black. The white paint was then similarly removed to reveal the original brown bakelite and an ivory front panel. The paint stripper would not effectively removed the paint from the front panel so I think this must be original.

Question please,
Could this radio have originally been sold as a brown bakelite model with an ivory coloured fron panel with matching knobs? I think it looks quite attractive and might respray it as such, assuming I can mask off the rest of the awkwardly-shaped case.

       

[Joe]

I think I have seen one in Chocolate and Cream and what could look better?

Here's mine and one off RMOrg:-

       

- Joe

[dennishoy]

Ok, after a total of 6 hours of scrubbing and cleaning, most of the original white paint came off. Nitromors only softened it and it had to be removed by abrasion; after a quick check, it was found to contain lead and was probably white lead primer and the reason why it stuck so well to the bakelite. There are still odd specks of paint in the corners around the speaker grille, but quite frankly I've spent too long on something salvaged for 'valves only'.

I'm not going to repaint it after all the effort needed to strip it so it's staying as brown bakelite with white knobs. On to the chassis tomorrow.....

   

[Mark R]

Looks good Dennis.

[Joe]

It does indeed, Mark. Maybe just repaint the grooves at either side of the dial?

- Joe

[dennishoy]

Mark R/Joe, Thanks.
Ok, I love experimenting and have delved further. Some of the bakelite surface was rough (from the manufacturing process) when inspected under magnification and this must have picked up the abrasive in the cleaner (T-Cut/Brasso) that I used to remove the paint. Once dry, this showed up as a white deposit which could only be removed by scratching, then we were back to square one again.

A different approach was needed...... so I started trying out some of the concoctions sitting in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Nothing really helped until I tried Colron 'Liquid Scratch Cover' for disguising scracthes on antique wooden items. Normally, this should be applied liberally to fill a scratch, then allowed to dry before buffing off. I applied the liquid, then buffed it away while it was still wet (you must be quick) and found that the uneven surfaces were filled and the white appearance disappeared. A second application after 30 minutes resulted in a mirror finish which I have never obtained before.

This picture below shows the stuff I used and hopefully, you can see the resulting finish that was obtained with little effort. I am very pleased with the result, considering this material is supposed to be used on wood and not bakelite.
(Please note this material is available in different shades and I purchased 'Dark Wood' for a couple of my clocks.)

   

[Mark R]

Nice job Dennis very nice indeed.

cheers Mark

[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.

[dennishoy]

Thanks David; it's coming along slowly.

I have a query regarding the chassis..... the only resource I can find is the 'ERT' service chart 1091 under Pilot T105 on the Paul Stenning DVD ROM comprising of 2 pages. There is a top view of the chassis on page 1, but no diagram of the component layout from under the chassis which seems odd. Question... should there have been 3 pages for this service chart and has the 'other side' of page 1 been missed perhaps? I'm not criticising Paul's efforts in any way, but it seems odd that a simple view of the top side of the chassis is provided, but there is no underside view which would be more useful. I wonder if we have pages 1 and 3 on the DVD.

Any thoughts ?
Thanks.