RCA 45x1 1940

My finished restoration.
as received unrestored

This is a Smaller art deco style RCA radio. Measures 9"W x 6"D x 6"H.
Typical AA5. Uses tubes 12SA7GT mixer/oscillator, 12SK7GT IF, 12SQ7GT detector,
50L6GT audio and 35Z5GT rectifier.

These are some pictures of the radio as I received it. The case
cracked in two places during shipping, on the left side and bottom.
It wasn't in horrible shape, but it is bakelite and hard to fix.
 
left side crack    
bottom crack

At least the bottom crack will be out of sight. It's the side crack that
will be hard to fix right. Bakelite is not like newer plastic, it can't be heated and
reformed. Most discussions I have found on rec.antiques.radio+phono about successful
bakelite repair center on gluing, bonding and painting. For this one I just used super
It's holding the crack real well and the cabinet doesn't flex when handled. However the
crack is still visible since I decided not to paint it. The best way to have fixed it
would have been after gluing, use putty glaze to fill in any small groves, sand smooth
and then paint it. Maybe at a later time. Well here's how it turned out.
 
left side crack    
bottom crack

   
Here's the back prior to pulling the chassis.

   
And here it is out of the case.
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All of the tubes tested good so I didn't have to replace any. I like that.
A view from the top. Being a smaller radio all components are fairly tight together. All components appear to be there. That's good.
    A quick look at the front chassis. The speaker is in great shape, I like that! Interesting dial pointer. A gold disk with a painted line. The dial scale must be silk-screened on the back side of the dial glass. Let's look.

   


Dang, some fool taped the dial glass in place some time ago. In
removing the tape some of the silk-screened gold foil flaked off. Humm,
I may have to apply a clear coating of something, perhaps a peal and stick
plastic sheet to keep the other gold foil and paint (which more is flaking)
from coming off. I'll think about it first. Any ways, the back dial is gold,so
maybe the flaked off gold won't be so noticeable? A little gold paint? We'll see.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well I just cleaned up the dial glass. It came out OK. I just didn't want to try
and paint it. Gold is so hard to match well.

   
A view underneath the chassis. Even though this is a small radio, it's not too cramped underneath. Shouldn't be too hard to recap this one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The recap went nice and smooth, no problems at all. Ya gotta love that.





Ok, there it is, that's how it turned out. It sounds good. And
now it joins my other radios, playing the sweet sound of music. Just
as this radio was originally made to do.
- Mike

For anyone interested, here is the schematic
and service data for this radio.

PDF File   - Thank you Nostalgia Air !

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