My latest addition - Radialva Groom

[Geaney]

Hi Robert,
Yes I'd been looking at all the various backs that are online. Mine is close to Cover 2 above but not exactly. Instead of the 6K7 mine had a 6M7 fitted so there may be other variants of the back we haven't found yet! Since there is only one circuit diagram I figured its best to make mine align to that so I can troubleshoot in future if needed without having to figure out all the differences again. The component overlay will be useful then as well.

As regards the dial, I've now got two 'layers' prepared, one has everything except the station names in the centre on it and the other has only those station names on it. I've also prepared an acrylic sheet as my glass replacement - at least while I experiment. It was late when I got it finished last night so I thought I'd see about printing them on decal paper (station names in light grey). Alas I forgot to flip them horizontally before printing so I wasted one of my last two decal sheets - aagh! Must stop working late on this stuff!

Weather forecast is for mid thirties here for the next week so I might not get a lot done if it stays too hot!

Cheers, John

[Yorkie]

Fancy turning up all those pics of backs! The fourth variation of the backs seems to allow the best ventilation. Dashed considerate of the French and the Germans to design such simple backs with straightforwad holes that can be neatly and cleanly cut with a Forstner bit - not one of those Brit backs with myriad elongated slots, calling for a router and jig.

It will be interesting to see how the dial works out John. (Photoshop or what?)

[Geaney]

It will be interesting to see how the dial works out John. (Photoshop or what?)

Hi David, yes I'd say about 5 hours on Photoshop so far. I scanned my own dial then spent ages cleaning up the image so it looks reasonable. Robert kindly did a scan of his dial which has the station names. Alas Robert's scan suffers from a slight motion blur in one direction which makes rescuing the station names a bit of a challenge. I enlarged in and spent some time getting the text as clear as possible and once reduced to actual size it's not too bad. I went with two thinner acrylic sheets so if one 'layer' works out OK I can keep that while I find a better solution for the other (white) one. I printed and applied the decals this morning so I won't touch them until tomorrow when they should be dry enough to take the varnish coat. At this stage it's very much an experiment. I will get some emboss powder for my next shot at the station names decal....

Cheers, John

[Yorkie]

Sounds as though you're making good progress John. The embossing powder is intriguing, because it gets over the issue of white lettering, but what intrigues me is that I'd have thought that ink dries so rapidly from an ink jet printer that when you sprinkle the powder onto the freshly printed sheet, I'd have thought that most would simply not adhere to the lettering and would fall off. We'll have to let you be the pathfinder!

[Robert Darwent]

Alas Robert's scan suffers from a slight motion blur in one direction which makes rescuing the station names a bit of a challenge.

Yes I was aware of that John. However, it is not a 'motion blur' effect but rather the optics of the flat-bed scanner focussing on the surface of the dial glass instead of the legend details on the back. I tried scanning at various resolutions but could not eliminate the slight out-of-focus effect unfortunately.

The scanner I'm using at present is part of a combined Epson inkjet/scanner combi. Its still relatively new and its probably the first time I've scanned a dial glass with it and so become aware of the issue. My old stand-alone HP scanner certainly didn't cause such problems.

The embossing powder is intriguing, because it gets over the issue of white lettering, but what intrigues me is that I'd have thought that ink dries so rapidly from an ink jet printer that when you sprinkle the powder onto the freshly printed sheet, I'd have thought that most would simply not adhere to the lettering and would fall off.

If you look at reply #11 of the RMorg thread on the subject David, someone asks the same question;

Quote: "how one could manage to pour the powder on WET ink. When papers come out of my printer, they are almost 90% dry already"

Answer: The decal paper has a very shiny texture. The ink remains wet on it for a considerable amount of time. Although I move at a steady pace when adding the powder and heating the graphics I have never really felt that I had to rush or be in a particular hurry. The first time I made some embossed decals I had the same concern as you but soon learned that speed is not a requirement.

So apparently its not a problem, but I would have though the same as you that the ink would already be too dry upon exiting the printer.

However, I've noticed a potentially greater problem that may prevent John making a suitable transfer, that being the detail produced by this method is 'raised'.

Obviously if the transfer is not flat then you will not be able to apply it correctly to the back of a sheet of glass or acrylic. Mirror-imaging the transfer and mounting so the raised lettering is away from the glass might work, but I suspect not. I believe the underside of and detail will look quite different to the normal side you should be viewing.

Regards

[Yorkie]

Thanks for clarifying the position Robert.

Looks like we're thwared yet again!

[Geaney]

Well the decal approach so far is a complete failure. With such light colours against a clear background almost nothing is visible. The photos show the two decals applied and awaiting the varnish coat, then the single sheet fitted followed by both sheets fitted then the original glass fitted. Lastly I put the set back in it's cab as I'd say it will be a while before I find a satisfactory solution to recreating the dial.

Still, one learns by every new experience! Being ever optimistic I've ordered up more decal paper

Cheers, John
photo sequence loaded in reverse order - sorry......

[standunmj]

dont be disheartened john, it happens to the best of us, theres bound to be another solution somewhere, some body out there knows a way, and no doubt will come forward in time, theres an other man in india with a similar problem working on a dial that sits up on top of a giant philips bx798x. its on my site, keep up the good work , maitiu.

[Geaney]

dont be disheartened john, it happens to the best of us, theres bound to be another solution somewhere, some body out there knows a way, and no doubt will come forward in time, theres an other man in india with a similar problem working on a dial that sits up on top of a giant philips bx798x. its on my site, keep up the good work , maitiu.

Thanks Maitiu,
I saw this one on eBay and though the dial looks in good shape the rest of the set looks to have been modified considerably - and it would cost me about 120Euros. Not sure I'd want to pay that just for the dial!

http://cgi.ebay.fr/POSTE-TSF-ANCIEN-EN-B...ons_Radios&hash=item3f154ac359#ht_4246wt_914

Cheers, John

[Robert Darwent]

With such light colours against a clear background almost nothing is visible.

That was always going to be the problem John.

In the past I have had acceptable results by stacking several identical dial transparencies on top of each other, thereby increasing the opaqueness of the required detail.

Of course everything has to be carefully aligned to preserve the sharpness of the legend, but it might be worth trying here?

I should add, I was using clear inkjet film and not waterslide transfer (decal) paper, but the method is probably applicable using either.

Regards